Ai Edogawa
by jack-adam
Summary: Conan has been patient with Ayumi for years, but at last she's taken it too far. He asks for help and Haibara agrees to pretend to be his girlfriend. CHAPTER 10: THE AFTERMATH Final chapter
1. The agreement

Sorry it's kid of short. This was actually a random thought that passed through my mind and wanted to try this out. I had tried to do this once like Conan, but for me, it failed utterly. Hehe. (Reader sweatdrops.)

CHAPTER 1

" ARRGH! DAMN IT!!!!!!" Conan yelled.

Haibara looked up from her computer, eyes wide in shock, before settling back to the usual bored and cool mask. " Great to see you again too." She said, rolling her eyes and the typing continued.

" What's wrong?" the Professor asked.

" Ayumi's been bugging me all week, and I don't think I can take it anymore." He said, groaning.

It was true.

She had been at his back all day, dragging him to places he didn't want to go, yelling at him for looking, being, speaking and breathing in the same direction of girls other than her. He had patiently done many things for her, like teaching her about her homework (Although he seriously suspected that she was just trying to spend time with him as she SUDENLY forgot how to add, subtract, divide, and " mileteapli."

Haibara raised her eyebrows.

Something that even Kudo couldn't stand. Must be serious. Conan was one of the most patient people she had ever known, and if he couldn't stand her, nobody could stand her. She stopped her typing but only for a mere second before getting back, her usual smirk back onto her face. Conan lay at the sofa for a moment, calming himself down. Then his eyes opened. There was something in his mind, but he couldn't quite picture it.

This did not often happen to him, as he usually had jolts in his mind and everything came clear and into view. But this time it was a small spark of an idea, and he had to work it out slowly and discreetly. He sat up straight, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He was so in thought that he didn't even notice the Professor look at him with raised eyebrows, his hand waving up and down at him. Even Haibara turned her spinning chair around to look.

What was Kudo thinking about THIS time? She thought amusingly. He always could think up of ways to shock or surprise her, whether that was a good thing or not. His mind worked like lightning, and she wondered if he could cease to amaze her once more. He smirked.

Then he frowned.

Then he bit his lip.

Then he sighed.

She smirked; amused by the many different facial expressions he showed in just a few seconds, she went back to his work. Conan's mind raced. Then he grinned. The famous smirk of the famous detective. He looked up at Haibara who was typing on the computer.

" Oi, Haibara." He called out.

She turned, eyebrows raised.

' Show me your magic,' she thought, smiling inwardly. ' Kudo-kun.'

" I need your help." He said. " Badly."

" So what else is new?" he said, rolling her eyes.

He didn't retort, which surprise her, and took her caution as the task seemed to be rather bad.

" What do you want?" she asked.

He smirked.

-----------------------

Ayumi bounced on her bed, ready to call Conan, the phone clapped in her hands. It was eight when she fell for him, and both of them were 12 now, and she knew she had the perfect authority to call herself his girl-friend. Sure he didn't seem to be the one least attracted to her, but she was sure that that was just that he was a naturally shy boy, and didn't know how to express his love for her openly.

No girl had the chance to talk to him while she was there, except for her best friend, Haibara. She smiled cheekily to herself as she looked at his poster on the wall. Then she frowned. But she DID think that he was awesomely handsome and charming, and he was all hers to keep.

She dialed the phone number excitedly.

--------------------------

" Your GIRLFRIEND???"

Haibara's face rode from shock, to amusement, to another expressionless mask. ' You're done it again, Kudo-kun.' She thought in amusement. " I don't think so." She replied quite coldly. " I have people that I know, and a reputation at stake."

The Professor laughed.

" Come on, Haibara." He begged. " Please. You just have to pretend to be my girl-friend until the end of the year and that's only four week from now. Then Ayumi would be out of my hair, and you can stop acting already. It's easy! And extremely simple for a brilliant actor like you!"

" Forget it. Go get another girl."

" I don't HAVE another girl!" Conan said hesitantly.

Suddenly the phone rang and a lightning slashed across the dark sky. If the situation were not so dire, he would have laughed.

" I bet that's her right now." She said amusingly.

" Haibara!" he said angrily.

" Yes, Kudo?" she asked in fake innocence.

The Professor was digging his head deeper and deeper into the couch, pillows buried over him, shaking with unsounding laughter.

" Please." He said.

The phone stopped ringing.

" See?" she said, smirking. " She's hung up."

" She never stops ringing until somebody answers," he said, biting his lip tearfully. The phone rang again and he let out an exasperated sigh.

" I TOLD you!" he said. " Haibara, please."

" Go to Hell first." She said, getting back to her computer.

" After you promise to act as my girl-friend." He said.

Her eyes widened.

" You're serious about this." She said.

" Yeah, I am!" he said poutingly.

The phone continued to ring.

She seemed to ponder for a moment before grinning.

" Okay, but only after you do some things for me." She said.

" What?" he asked eagerly.

" One," she said. " You owe me a dress."

" Okay." He said desperately.

" A good one."

" Yes."

" An expensive one."

" YES." He said, expecting the worse.

She grinned.

" And you must say the following."

" She's ringing, Haibara!" he yelled, pointing at the phone.

" She'll continue calling, remember?" she answered, not missing a beat.

He bit his lip.

" Shiho Miyano is the best." She said, looking at the computer.

" Shiho Miyano is the best." He said, rolling his eyes.

" The very best." She said.

" The very best." He repeated.

You see, Haibara Ai or her real identity, was not a person who liked to abuse her authority, and she ABUSED it.

" Shinichi Kudo is an idiot with no kissing experience, locking himself up in his room from day to night, hoping to get cases from people who will end up either dead or gay. He also has few friends while being cooped up by himself with detective books surrounding his unknowingly large head."

Conan would have strangled her if not for the dire consequences.

He looked at the phone.

And sighed.

" Shinichi Kudo is an idiot with no kissing experience, locking himself up in his room from day to night, hoping to get cases from people who will end up either dead or gay. He also has few friends while being cooped up by himself with detective books surrounding his unknowingly large head." He repeated.

She smirked.

" Well done. You have fantastic memory."

" And YOU have fantastic evilness." He said venomously.

She smirked before looking at the phone.

" Go nuts." She said, winking.

He glared at her before picking up.

" Hello." He said wearily.

" Hi honey," Ayumi said, blushing. " Did you know it was me?"

" Yes." He said weakly.

His eyes widened as Haibara walked over, a smirk on her face. She grabbed the phone from him and held it a few centimeters from his ear. She had his bow tie in her hand, a grin playing on her lips. He gasped.

She wouldn't---would she?

" Co-chan," she said, in a voice so sweet that it amazed the professor, his head bobbing out from the pillows. " Who is that?"

" Co-chan?" came Ayumi's voice. " I thought only I could call you that! What's Haibara doing next to you?"

" Keep shut for a second, Ayumi." Haibara said in a tight voice, imitating Conan's voice perfectly. " I know that it would be hard for you, but try for at least three seconds. Hold on, okay?"

" Why are you talking to Ayumi, Co-chan?" Haibara said sweetly, pulling the tie away from her. It was amazing. It was like a one-person performance. " Don't you love me anymore?"

" I do too!" she said, pressing the tie near her.

She left the phone in the air before rubbing her hand nicely on the phone before knocking it on the table before dropping the phone back in its receiver.

" Done." She said.

His mouth was still open wide.

" Amazing, Ai-kun!" The Professor said, clapping.

" How was I?" Haibara asked, winking at Conan.

" As amazing as ever," he said, shivering.

She smirked.

END OF CHAPTER 1

There! The first chapter! I don't plan on making this a long story, just four or five chapters ought to do it. But if the reviews are good, I hope I can extend it. It's very interesting and amusing to write, and I must say, I enjoyed myself. Next chapter, Haibara kisses Conan.

PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!!!

Next chapter

What will Ayumi do? She has war.


	2. The strategies of Haibara Ai

Thank you all so much for the GLORIOUS reviews!!! My grin was almost forcing to crack my face in two. Here's chapter two!!! ENJOY!!!

CHAPTER 2

Ayumi looked grief stricken as she dropped the phone down to the receiver, her mouth opening and shutting continuously. What---did she just hear? She shook herself lightly. She shouldn't be this stupid and irrational. Conan loved her. He loved her, right? She bit her lip as she looked at a photograph at her and the rest of the Detective Boys and frowned.

But it was true that Haibara was much closer to Conan than many other people, but that was just because she let her defenses down on her by a bit, but that was because she was her friend. She was her friend right? She looked at the clock with a small glare. It was nine.

There was about thirty minutes to bedtime. All she had time for was a short bath, a short read of her favourite book, and then it was straight to bed. She sighed. At least there was school the next day. She was sure there was a logical explanation for his actions. Maybe it was April's fool or something.

She kissed her photo of Conan and went to get ready for her shower.

Little did she knew that April's Fool did not take place in July.

--------------------------

Conan yawned and got to his feet. " Well," he said. " I'm going back to Ran's before she gets worried or something."

" No." Haibara said firmly.

So firmly that he turned, surprised.

" What?" he asked.

" We're going to have to go to school together, or else Ayumi wouldn't get the full impact. If I don't get it wrong, I am pretty sure that she would be waiting outside our house tomorrow, hoping to see if I would come alone or with you. But she wouldn't show herself, that's for sure."

Conan was taken aback.

She sure did know her stuff.

" Are you sure it isn't for something else?" he asked, a cocky grin on his face.

She looked surprised for a moment, before showing a bashful smile, walking over to him. Conan's eyebrows raised, and it widened as he felt Haibara's breath on his face, barely nose apart.

" Why else do you think I agreed to act as your girl-friend?" she whispered, a hand on his thigh.

He gasped out loud and the Professor's mouth opened in shock.

" If you don't mind," she continued on, her tongue coming out of her mouth to lick her dry lips. " I would gladly share my bed with you."

" I---er---," he sputtered.

She pulled away, smirking.

" Just kidding," she grinned, rearranging her skirt.

The Professor started to laugh as Conan's blushing face turned quickly to embarrassment to anger. " Haibara---," he growled. She turned, smirking. " Yes, Kudo?" she said.

He felt his anger ebb away as he sighed.

" Nothing. Professor---can you lend me your phone?"

" No problem, Casanova." He said, amused.

Haibara smirked as she watched Conan walk away.

' You think I've shown all my tricks, Kudo-kun?' she thought.

' I'm just getting started.'

---------------------

Conan woke up the next morning with an aching back.

He sat up straight, looking sideways at the clock. It was six in the morning. There were still two whole more hours to go, but he got out of bed, looking sideways at the two sleeping people beside him. The Professor lent him a mattress to sleep on, and he slept not far away from Haibara.

He smiled softly at her sleeping figure.

To think that such a cute-looking child could be one of the most notorious plan-makers he had ever known scared him. But that was one of the reasons that made her adorable, he guessed. He started to change in the dark, and with some difficulty, got changed. His dressing style changed totally, no more wearing that ridiculous bow tie followed by a tuxedo-like dressing, and it was lucky that he did, because there were come massive bullies in the school.

There was the sound of someone stirring, and he put on his glasses uncertainly. He had to wear them every time, because of the extreme similarity of him and his old-self, he was afraid that someone might notice. Maybe Haibara was right. Maybe he DID have to move into the Professor's house.

" Kudo?" she asked, rubbing her eye sleepily.

" Yeah?" he asked.

She didn't say anymore, but get up groggily to her feet, kicking the blankets off her body. " What are you doing up so early?" she asked with a yawn. " Don't we usually have to throw a rock at you before you get up?"

" Not all the time," he said defensively.

She smirked.

" So what do you plan to do today?" he asked cautiously. " I don't want you to take this too far. She still is a girl, and is much younger than we are, so I don't want you playing real or anything."

" Aww, that's so sweet of you." She said, grinning.

He blushed.

" But relax," she said, shrugging her shoulders. " I was thinking about the exact same thing. I haven't even scratched the surface to hurting her, but I don't think she will be that nice to me. I'm glad you approached me instead of any other girl, or she is in for it. Deep."

He nodded seriously.

" The Ayumi team is rather strong, I must say. If I was the age I was when I was younger, I don't know if I can fend her off by myself. I think we might have to get some help by some of your other friends. There are roughly two boys and two girls, all ready to hurt and shove. But they all are human, and thus have their weaknesses and strengths. We must move to their weaknesses, and try to avoid them when they all attack as one. If they attack at once, I don't think I can fend them off, and you'll have to come in to help."

He nodded.

" There's altogether Ayumi, Genta, Mitsuhiko and this girl called Sumiko." She said seriously, counting them off with her fingers. " Ayumi might be the toughest one, because she has the brain in tactics. Not the kind of strategy as me, but she is famous of doing bad things to her enemies behind their backs, and that means I must watch myself at all times. But her weakness is you, and I already have an idea for that inside my head. Next is Genta. He's strong that's for sure, but he's stupid, so a simple diversion would work flawlessly. Mitsuhiko is smart, which could spell trouble for us, but it's all in his mind and doesn't usually speak his mind, and would usually listen to Ayumi's orders, and thus he isn't that big of a problem. Sumiko is easy. Taking her out would be easy. Questions?"

" Yeah." He said uneasily. " How do you think this would end?"

" Ayumi may not seem it, but she is extremely weak-willed. We just have to date for at most two weeks, and I think you'll have her out of your hair."

He nodded.

" Sounds good."

They dressed, and got ready for school.

-------------------------

Sure enough, they could see a tiny shadow prodding out from behind a pillar outside their house, and he let a smile escape his mouth. Haibara was good. She was very good. Haibara had suddenly changed personality completely and held his hand, looking away, blushing furiously.

Conan looked at her, surprised.

She looked at him.

And winked.

They walked onwards, Haibara leaning her head on his shoulder as he edged his hand across her shoulder. Ayumi bit her lip, anger filling her heart. ' Fine, Haibara.' She thought, getting out her hand phone. ' You want to battle? I'm game. I'm totally game.'

-----------------------------

There was rain that day as Conan and Haibara, as usual, sat together. They saw Ayumi enter the classroom a second after, and the class waited with baited breath at what Ayumi had to say at the sight of this.

" Good morning, Ai? Conan!" Ayumi said, and several people took a sigh of relief. Ayumi sat down near them, the usual smile on her face. Only Haibara saw through her. She frowned. There was something wrong with that smile of hers. She had already started to work things out. She turned and observed the looks on the Genta, Mitsuhiko and Sumiko.

They were grinning at her.

She smirked back.

And so the game begins.

It was already through experience that Haibara knew that boys acted by force, and if they were unhappy with you, they would walk up to you during recess and say, " I'm not happy with you." But with girls, they worked in secret, and hit on you behind your back. Ayumi wasn't so stupid after all. If she had acted grumpy and everything she would naturally suspect that Ayumi was doing things to her behind her back. In this case, with that smug, laughing smile on her face, Haibara knew that she had a plan. A pretty good plan at that.

She fished out her timetable, ignoring Ayumi who was trying to make contact with her, one hand on Conan's hand, and the other on his thigh. She looked at the lessons, an eyebrows raised. It was Science next, followed by double Physical Education, then a math lesson, and then double English. She slowly plotted her plan out. She wasn't planning on doing anything to Ayumi and the rest today unless she did anything back, and she would lie on defense for the time being.

During science Ayumi couldn't do anything, as being twelve years old they didn't work with dangerous chemicals such as acid (No matter how diluted they were), broken test tubes, falling tripod stands, and other dangerous things in the laboratory. In fact, there was nothing else but stay in the classroom and read or do work, so she was perfectly safe during that lesson.

Next following up was double physical education, and she had to be sure to be careful of that class, or else she could ' accidentally' hit in the face with a basketball. But the boys played separately form the girls, so she didn't think she would get hurt that bad. Plus, most of the girls were on her side due to her smartness and cool, so she didn't think anyone would agree with Ayumi or Sumiko to hurt her, so she didn't have that much of a problem there. Plus, those two girls were weak.

Next was math, and Ayumi couldn't do anything because she the teacher was just plain strict.

The last with double English. Again there was nothing Ayumi could do, as it was acting day. Nothing much, just plain drama in front of the class, and she couldn't slap her in front of the class without being scolded or something.

She smirked and put the timetable back in her back and zipped it shut. As long as Ayumi didn't do anything or act stupid again to Conan, she didn't think that she had to bother much.

" Ai-chan." Ayumi repeated and she looked up.

" Yes?" Haibara said.

There was uncertainty and betrayal in Ayumi's eyes, but didn't know whether she should say it. Haibara watched her struggle with, amused. Would she do it? She wondered. She was feeling unnaturally mean today, she admitted. If Ayumi did this to her a few weeks ago, she would have patted her shoulder and told her to relax, as that whole girl-friend thing was joke, and was sure that the three of them and Genta and Mitsuhiko would all have a good laugh.

But what she had been doing to Conan was almost absolute obsesity, and was sure that she had seen a spycam in his bathroom one day when she had visited his house one day. But she was a child after all, and as long as she didn't do anything to her or annoy Conan to the absolute depths of the Earth, she wouldn't do anything to her. She was still human, after all.

" Nothing." Ayumi said, turning away.

Haibara smiled sadly.

' Sorry.' She thought softly. ' But what has to be done has to be done.'

Ayumi looked at her team at the edge of her eye. They gave her the thumbs up sign. She grinned.

-----------------------

As Haibara suspected, Ayumi didn't do anything to her in science lesson, only questioning her about what she thought about the lesson, in what Haibara answered with a dull tone that she would rather ride on the back of a gay camel. Ayumi let out a big laugh at that, and the two girls were sent to the wall.

Haibara was really impressed with Ayumi, as her acting was so superb that she almost forgot that Ayumi was plotting on revenge on her, and had to pity the people who made her angry or got in her way.

Before they knew it, it was time of Physical Education. Ayumi was not changing beside Haibara as usual, and Haibara raised her eyebrows but said nothing, knowing perfectly clear what she was planning. On the far end, Ayumi and Sumiko were talking. " Okay," Ayumi said. " Haibara is a really popular girl in the school with both the boys and the girls, and after asking quite a large amount of people why they liked her so much, I found out what was good about her."

Sumiko nodded.

" They like her smartness for once." Ayumi said. " That's something that I can do nothing about. All I can try to do is to change her test papers when the teacher leaves the room, but I know that's not possible, because the writing of hers and mine is totally different, even if I just simply change her number ' 3' to an '8'. Plus, the teachers know she gets a hundred all the time, and would question her even if she got one question wrong, and find out. And even if that isn't so, I don't think me, Genta, Mitsuhiko or you could get a hold on them anyway."

" Why?" Sumiko asked rather stupidly.

" Because she marks the papers on the spot." Ayumi said, rather disbelievingly. " And so do many of the other teachers."

" Oh." Sumiko said.

" Next is that she's beautiful." She went on. " I think I might be able to put some powders in her food or something to make her sick. You create a diversion while I slip something in. Through years of being her friend, I know she can conduct tests, and thus will be able to get away measles that I can pass onto her, so the best one would have to be sneezing powder."

" Okay." Sumiko said.

" Next is that she's cool." Ayumi said, frowning. " I guess I could give her itching powder or something."

" Yeah." Sumiko said brightly.

" Next is that she's untouchable." She continued. " So I think that even if I say some rumors about her nobody would care, and that would be totally useless. But I'll just have to give it a shot."

" Yeah." Sumiko said.

" But there are bad things about her too." Ayumi said reasonably. " She's human too, you know. " The first thing I know about her weakness is that she's not that good at sports, but better than many others, so I guess that's scrubbed off the list." She paused for a moment, before letting her face light up.

" I read her diary one day." She said, a grin on her face. " That her sister died from some place called the Black Organization. I think that's fake, but let's just act that out in a play or something to let her know that we're onto her."

" Bingo." Yumiko said. " There's play acting today."

" Excellent." Ayumi said, before walking out of the toilet.

Then she raised her eyebrows at Sumiko.

" Is ' Yeah' or 'Okay' the only things you can say?" she asked.

" Yeah." Sumiko answered.

-----------------------

Physical Education ended fairly fast, and it was time for recess. Conan had dressed up in his uniform once more, but hurrying to get a bite, Haibara didn't, and sat there in her PE uniform. Several boys watched her, blushing, and looked away when she turned around. Conan blushed as he saw her legs, and tried to concentrate on his food. But Haibara saw him.

" I never knew you were a voyeur, Kudo-kun." She whispered throatily, and he spat out the drink in his mouth. " Could it be that I acclaimed one of your secret fetishes?" His face was beet red now as he clawed into his pants. She winked and smiled. " Just kidding." She said.

" Haibara!" Ayumi said, grinning at her.

Haibara smiled back.

" Take a look at this!" she said, placing a photo before her face, dropping sneezing powder into her food which was in the same hand. (Try it, it worked for me. I love doing pranks) In fact, she pulled it off so well that neither of the not-so-young-teens didn't notice. Haibara raised her eyebrows at it cautiously. This girl had something going on in her mind, she could tell.

She looked at it.

It was of herself at the sports center.

Haibara raised her eyebrows at it while Conan blushed.

" Okay," she said. " It's a picture of me. What about it?"

" Oh, it's nothing." Ayumi said, pocketing it. " I'm just sure that a lot of guys in the school would be glad to have a picture of you in short tight pants."

Conan had a small feeling of Shiho in those but shook himself mentally.

Haibara frowned at Ayumi's cheerful smile.

She was going to do it, she thought. She was going to do it.

" Fine," she said, smiling at her, crossing her legs. Ayumi flinched. " But I think that they might pay more for a picture of you in a bathing suit."

They looked at each other.

Ayumi knew inside her heart that more than half the guys would pay double to see a plain picture of Haibara in a sweater than a picture of herself totally naked. But she held herself together.

Ayumi smiled.

" Thanks." She said, and walked off.

Haibara smiled softly.

" Not good to keep things bottled up." She muttered, getting back to her food.

Conan frowned.

" Haibara---do you think she had some ulterior motive of showing you that photo?" he asked her uneasily.

" Yes." She said haughtily. Then she stopped eating. She spat out the rice she had in her mouth and glugged down as much drink as possible. She placed a hand gently on the top of her rice, and felt the soft grains on top. " Damn." She muttered. " Let my guard down for a second, and this is what she does."

" What is it?" Conan asked anxiously.

Haibara sniffed it.

" Sneezing powder." She said. " It works after ten minutes. I guess I'll have to spend some money on tissues, right?"

Conan sighed.

" Sorry, Haibara."

She smiled sincerely. " It's okay. Anything for a friend."

He felt his face redden.

" Plus, I get a free dress." She continued, grinning.

The blush fell off his face as quick as a bowling ball above the Grand Canyon.

----------------------

True enough, she was sneezing all over herself, and quite a number of girls and boys gave her tissues and concerned looks, and it was only now that Conan knew how many admirers and stalkers she had. A girl invited her to go to her house for some chicken soup; a boy gave her a lace-embroidered handkerchief and he swore he saw a boy pocket a handkerchief she blew on.

Ayumi was secretly pleased with herself as she saw Haibara's nose all red and sneezing, but was angry and jealous with all the people caring for her, and knew the cold she gave her would go away by English.

Sure enough, Haibara was well by English, and paired up with Conan during acting. Surprisingly, Haibara and Conan saw Ayumi automatically go towards Sumiko. She looked at Conan confusingly, and he just shrugged. Haibara frowned at Ayumi's back. She was planning something, she could tell.

---------------------------

They went group by group, and soon enough, Ayumi and Sumiko went up, with several claps and cheers. Ayumi wasn't that unpopular with the boys after all, but most had their hearts set on Haibara. Needless to say.

When they started, Haibara lounged in her seat peacefully, watching them as they showed a gunfight, but when Sumiko acted dead and yelled at the running away Black Organization, she felt a cold chill down her spine. Was---Ayumi---could she possibly? They went on to the death of Sumiko, with Ayumi crying by her side. Haibara's eyes bore at them with rage, unknown tears threatening to fall out of her eyes.

Haibara---," Conan whispered.

Haibara glared up at Ayumi.

Ayumi hid a smirk across her lips as the crowd applauded.

" Who wants to go next?" the teacher said.

" Me and Co-chan," Haibara said at the last words, smirking backwards at Ayumi. Ayumi remained motionless, although her eyes let herself away. Several murmers erupted, but nothing else was said. They did a scientist/detective short scene, and was a rather well-done act they admitted, gaining laughs and smiles from the teacher and the students alike.

Haibara hid a smirk.

It was at the near end.

Time to end it.

" Thank you, Tantei-san." She said, a smile on her face as she wrapped her arms around Conan's neck. Conan's eyes widened in shock. This wasn't part of the act. Was she going to add more scenes because of the hate to Ayumi?? But he hadn't rehearsed at all, what was he going to---

" You're wel---," he said out but was cut short with her soft lips pressing against his.

END OF CHAPTER 2

Hahaha, a cliffhanger. How was it? I was pretty happy while I was writing it, I have half the mind to add on more chapters and add a sequel. As most of you all know, Conan is starting to fall for Haibara. I'm hoping to make a big happening in every chapter that I do, and if I'm lucky I can achieve that. I'll write what will most likely happen in the next.

Thank you all so very much!!!!

(Tell me if Haibara is OOC. I hope she's not. I just think she's very touchy about her sister and everything. Please read and review!!!

NEXT CHAPTER

Terribly angry,. Ayumi launches into silent attack. Something bad.

Haibara has a bad feeling about that.

What does she do?

Easy and simple.

The seduction of Mitsuhiko.


	3. Click

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THOSE REVIEWS!!! I'm starting to cry, I really am. Hopefully with some luck, I can get this chapter uploaded successfully, because there were some major problems with my computer with the last chapter. But whatever. Sorry if the kiss is lame, but I'll make a better one next time. Here's chapter 3!!!!

P.S. I'm SOOOO sorry to the people who didn't like my characterization of Ayumi. MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES!!!! But I had to make her this way in order for the story to work. So all those who are grieved and upset or even ANGRY--- (sniffles) I'm sorry!!!!!!!!

CHAPTER 3

It was like dropping a bomb.

Conan stood there, Haibara's hands pulling his lips closer to her. He didn't pull away, but instead felt intense heat filling his body, wanting more---wanting to touch her all over------

Haibara pulled away from him, a small smirk on her lips. There were some random claps from all over the room, most of them too filled with shock and awe to move. Some of the boys were glaring at Conan in jealousy, some of the other girls beaming and clapping at the half smiling Haibara. The teacher looked both sides uneasily, not knowing what exactly to do next, and cleared her throat for silence.

When nobody gave attention, she cleared her throat about roughly ten times louder, so loud that even the cleaner who had come in to change the rubbish bins looked up at her speechlessly.

" Right," the teacher said, rather angrily. " Now that I have everybody's attention, I would dismiss each and every one of you in order of performance and behavior. Now then, I would-----,"

Ayumi didn't hear her, her mouth still open in shock, her eyes watching Haibara in utmost disbelief. Haibara noticed her and gave her a half smile. She cut in between the chair of her and another girl, crouching low as if in some difficulty. Out of the corner of her ear, she heard Haibara's voice.

" Never---talk about my sister again."

She whipped her head up in shock, but found out that Haibara was already gone, being congratulated or praised by fellow classmates. She looked down, anger filling her deepest depths. ' Okay fine.' She thought. ' Be like that. I'll make you destroyed. I was the one who was supposed to take away his first kiss. I'll ruin your life Haibara. I'll ruin you totally.'

Conan noticed Ayumi's expressions and frowned.

" Haibara---," he said uneasily.

" Forget it." She said, ignoring Ayumi. " She'll be back to normal tomorrow."

Conan watched her sit down, her lips parting slightly, her tongue darting out to lick her dry lips. He shook himself. What was his problem? What was with this sudden obsession with Haibara? He shivered and stood up to his feet when he heard the teacher call his name.

--------------------------

Conan stayed over once more that night. He was growing steadily fond of the smell of a room without the strong drench of beer, and liked sitting by the window of the house, feeling the wind in his face. He might just move in here one of these days, he really might. He was sure the Professor wouldn't mind, now with Haibara paying for her own bills with all those online formulae prizes she earned over the internet, and he was sure that he could get a job somewhere.

" So?" he asked Haibara, who was sitting at the computer, typing steadily away.

" So what?" she asked, bored.

" So how's the plan and everything?" he asked. " She seemed really angry with you that day. I don't know if she'll get vicious tomorrow."

She smirked.

" That's not possible." She replied, tapping away on the computer. " Example you are a girl who's in love with a guy. What are you going to do when you find out another girl kissed him in front of the class? It would be utterly stupid to just strangle her or something. One, because Ayumi knows I'm stronger than her, and I demonstrated that perfectly at self-defense class. Secondly is because girls act behind the backs of people, so that the people they love wouldn't see their true side. Would you date Ayumi because she beat your friend up?"

" I guess not." He said, rather impressively. " Since when did you know all this? I didn't think someone like you would."

She looked at him, rather offended.

" No!" he sputtered. " It's---it's not that you're manly or anything---it's just that you don't do cute gestures or anything."

He mentally slapped himself as her eyebrows raised.

" No! I---I didn't---say you weren't cute or anything---it's just that you---don't act like Ran----or anything---,"

Her eyebrows were in danger of disappearing through the fringe of her hair.

" I---er---no----I----," he sputtered, then hung his head.

" Okay then," she said, her voice positively dripping with sarcasm. " If you want me to play with a ball of yarn or imitate Mickey Mouse, please let me know. But in the meantime, I want to get this over with, so that I can go and get the dress you promised me. Now go away."

She resumed her typing.

Conan bit his lip.

There was something he had been wanting to ask her since the afternoon, but didn't know whether it was smart to answer or not.

She stopped typing.

" What is it, Kudo?" she asked.

There was nothing in her voice. No irritation which she used to always have. There were no stress marks on any of the words, or confusion. There was nothing, just a plain question, expecting plain fact back.

He looked away, a faint blush on his cheeks.

" If---if Ayumi didn't make you angry---would you still have kissed me?"

Her eyes widened.

" EVENING!" the Professor called, opening the door loudly, giving the two ' teens' a huge jump. " I bought tempura for dinner! Let's dig in!" With that, he dropped the packet and rushed into the kitchen to get plates and spoons. Conan was still looking at her, a slight accusiating look on his face.

Haibara looked shocked for a while, before smiling again.

" What do you think?" she said, before turning around to help the Professor with the plates. He stared at her back as she walked off and disappeared behind the open door of the kitchen, and not soon after hearing the Professor's grateful voice. " Thank you, Ai-kun!" He sighed and lay back into his seat. Looks like it was impossible to get a straight answer from her after all.

But a tired smile flashed across his lips.

' But you have to hand it to her,' he thought amusingly. ' She just always seems to keep her cool.'

-------------------------

' Science (Double), Math (Double), Recess, Japanese, Science (Double).'

" That's just as simple as that." Ayumi muttered to herself, biting her lip. Science was going to be rather tough to do anything to her, because there was a test on that day, and she very well needed Haibara and Conan's help in it with every way possible. Looks like she'd better try as hard as she could to bottle the hate she had for Haibara, and save it for the next period.

" Ayumi!" her mother called. " Dinner!"

" Right away, mom!" Ayumi yelled back, getting back to her list.

There was math soon after, and a double period to say that. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. She had already thought of the plan to get Haibara totally, but could not think of it totally. For the moment, Genta would have to wait. He was burly and strong, that was for one, but she couldn't hurt Haibara, and thus he would be out of the plan for the time being.

" Dinner! Ayumi!" her mother yelled again.

" I heard the first time!" Ayumi yelled back.

Plus, in math the teacher was dead strict, so she guessed she didn't have nuts of a chance to carry out her plan with Haibara, so math was definitely out. This was the way she saw it. Her main plan was simple, yet painfully lethal. It was obvious that she couldn't do it obviously. She couldn't let Haibara know she was doing things to her. Not yet, anyway. But the class had to be there, and needless to say, Haibara had to be unsuspecting.

" Ayumi!!!" the mother yelled.

" COMING!" Ayumi yelled back.

Recess was next after that, and she couldn't do anything much about that. She would begin her plan swiftly and nicely the next day. Kissing Conan pushed all the friendship aside, and she was ready to get Haibara in every bad way possible.

Taking out a pencil, she grabbed her notebook and scribbled:

' Step 1: Badmouth Haibara'

She shut her timetable and smirked. Yes. Badmouthing was the first on the list. She would have to be careful about that though, because she didn't want to badmouth that much. Spreading gossip obviously didn't work on her, as she was the so-called 'untouchable' of the school. Maybe for step two she could take pictures of Haibara secretly and sell it off or something.

" Ayumi!" the mother yelled again. " Your dinner's getting cold!!!"

" IN A MINUTE!" Ayumi yelled.

Yes. She would just have to start by doing so to Conan. That would be the smartest thing to do. She would ask Mitsuhiko or someone else to talk to her and try to strike up a conversation. That would divert her away.

" AYUMI! YOU'RE GROUNDED IF YOU DON'T GET DOWN HER THIS VERY MINUTE!!!!!"

Ayumi rolled her eyes and sighed.

" Coming." She said.

Her plan would have to wait until after dinner.

----------------------------

" What?" came Ran's worried tone.

" Yeah," he said uncomfortably, drumming his fingers on the table before him. " I may be moving into the professor's house in a few days time, I guess. Your mother would be moving back, wouldn't she? If she does, I don't think there would be any spare space for me."

" That's true---," came Ran's hesitant reply. " But then---I would really miss you Conan. You're been here for years and it would be odd to not have you around! What would happen to dad? What if he never solves a case again? He already knows you help him here and there."

" Yeah," he said, a small smile on his face. " But that doesn't mean that we all wouldn't meet again. I'll visit from time to time if you like, and you could come over! If your father needs any help in his mysteries he can always call me. I'll keep my cellphone on all day."

There was a pause.

" Oh, Conan---I don't know---," she said.

He bit his lip.

He knew that he would miss being around her and everything, but he DID have the strong desire to move out and live on his own. But being only eleven years old now, he would just have to wait a few more years. Unless something came up and the pill would pop in his hands. Or Haibara could find it on eBay or something. He knew that Ran would get emotional at these type of things and everything, but he was getting desperate now, and needed help fast.

He looked at Haibara.

She smirked.

" Fix this yourself, Archie Andrews." She said.

The Professor spat out the juice he was drinking.

He glared at the both of them before getting back to the phone. " I'll really miss you, Ran." He said softly to the receiver. There was a pause. " I'll miss you too, Conan. I know I can't stop you from going, but you remind me so much of Shinichi that I---," There was another pause. He smiled bitterly. Of course. Shinichi. He knew his name would pop out somewhere.

He knew she had her good intentions and had the reason to reminisce, but sometimes she took it too far, making him full of guilt and bitterness, and made him stop whatever he wanted to really do in the first place. He shook himself. Keep strong. Stay to your own beliefs.

" Goodbye, Ran." He said. " I'll keep in touch."

" What, you wouldn't be coming over?" she cried.

" No." he said simply. " I don't think I will. The movers will be getting my stuff. I'll keep in touch with you as much as possible, Ran."

There was another pause.

" Alright, Conan." She said, rather huffily. " But remember to eat your vegetables, okay?"

" Yes, Ran." He said meekly.

Then she put down the phone.

He left it by his ear for a moment before putting it down with a sigh. Haibara watched him with a sort of pained expression. Then she changed back to her usual grin as he looked at her. " Broke up with her yet?" she smirked. " Did it nice and slow?"

" Shut up." He said, blushing slightly. " What are you going to do next?"

" I don't DO things." She scoffed. " I simply attack or defend when the enemy attacks."

" Right." He said sheepishly. " So ht do you plan on doing when she attacks you? She looked pretty darn angry just now."

She nodded.

" I know." She said. " I know. That's why she might be going to do the usual ten step attack once more, like many others."

" The what?" Conan asked.

She turned.

" Girls usually just backstab each other behind each others backs, but when something happens and they get backstabbed back, that's when they get mad. The ten-step move is the simple name for it. There are many different names, like the twenty-step move, or even the thirty-step move, and so on and so forth. There could be a ten-thousand step move, which all depends on how patient the person is. For a person with Ayumi, no matter how patient and calculative, is still a twelve year old. Thus, she is weak in the heart, and is naturally impatient by nature. The most she can go up to is ten, and if she really does that, I would applaude her for her patience, and with some matter, stupidity, as if you wait for too long, your hate would wear out, and so on and so forth."

Conan just watched her, mouth wide open.

" What is it?" she asked irritably.

" How do you know so much?" he asked. " Did something happen to you before?"

There was a flicker of irritation in her eyes and he was ready for her to say a sarcastic comment when she smiled and he let out a breath. " Yes," she said simply. " Yes indeed." He expected her to continue, but she raised her eyebrows at him before smirking and getting back to her typing. He let out a cry of irritation and wrung his arms on her chair, swinging her around to meet him.

" What?" she asked again.

" Who?" he asked.

" Vermouth." She said, and tried to turn her chair around once more, but he held it firmly, and flinched slightly at the venomous look in her eyes.

" When? What? How? Where?" he asked, shaking his hands in the air.

She raised her eyebrows.

" Why so curious?" she asked.

He opened his mouth and shut it several times, before letting go of her chair. " Never mind." he said flatly, and started to make his way to the couch. Haibara watched him go away thoughtfully, before looking up at the ceiling.

She smiled.

He'd just have to wait until she felt like telling him, she thought, turning her attention back to the computer, her hands back on the computer.

--------------------

Mitsuhiko and Genta hung around the living room of Ayumi, Sumiko lolling around them. " What does Ayumi want us here for?" Sumiko asked, popping another breath mint into Genta's open mouth. Mitsuhiko groaned. " So the score's ten to six." He said, hitting the packet, a mint coming out of it.

" Come on, open up." Mitsuhiko said impatiently as Genta took his time to swallow before opening it once more. He aimed and hit the base of Genta's mouth, causing him to swallow it in a second. Genta choked and hit his chest with the back of his wrist, Sumiko giggling with laughter. Mitsuhiko smiled as he saw the mint soar across the room and hit into the fishbowl.

" What's the score now?" she asked.

" Ten to seven." He said. " Your turn."

Ayumi bustled in, a camera in her hand. The others looked at each other, confused. Mitsuhiko shrugged and turned his attention back to Ayumi. Ayumi smiled at them as she patted the camera fondly. It was not the regular size of a normal camera, the ones that your mother or father brings to birthday parties. But it was tiny. Extremely tiny, and they only found out that it was a camera after looking at it extremely carefully. " It's a camera." Genta said.

" Indeed." Ayumi said, beaming. The others watched her with raised eyebrows, wanting her to go on. She dashed back to her room, and enormous clattering sounds were heard. Within seconds she was back, her school uniform and a penknife in her hands.

" What are you doing, Ayumi?" Sumiko asked curiously.

" I'm putting the spy camera in my uniform." She said matter-of-factly. " That would be step two of my plan, right after I badmouth her in front of Conan." She put a small hole in the black jacket of her uniform neatly, and they had to admit she did a pretty fair job. She glued the top of the cam to the back of it, slitting it through to make it barely visible through the jacket.

" Takes five pictures per second when the shutter is taken off." She said proudly. " My pride and glory. Takes until ten thousand shots without a miss."

" For what?" Genta asked stupidly.

" I'm, going to take pictures of Haibara and sell them." She said matter-of-factly. " It might make use to her popularity, and plus it would earn me some spare cash."

" Spare cash?" Mitsuhiko asked, puzzled. " I thought you were always loaded."

She smiled.

" Not for this. Step ten of mine would be the masterpiece of all."

" The grand finale." Sumiko said, not missing a beat.

Ayumi grinned.

" Bingo." She said.

----------------------

Haibara got into the act first thing the next day. She had come to school with Conan hand-in-hand, her head leaning against his shoulder. This caused a huge uproar, with Conan being barged by questions and almost near beat-ups from bullies by taking away their one truelove, non probable or not. But everyone was generally pleased, and they were happy that they didn't focus too much on it. Ayumi walked into the classroom when the whole class was asking how the two got together when Ayumi walked into the classroom. There was silence beyond silence as she walked calmly and smoothly to the teacher, giving him her late note before walking over to her seat next to Haibara.

The class waited with baited breath at what her reaction would be, as Ayumi, the girl with connections all over the school, surely knew that Haibara had taken her so-called 'boy-friend.' Ayumi walked over and sat down, before turning to Haibara. Haibara merely flinched. Ayumi smiled.

" Ohio, Ai." She said.

Haibara smirked inwardly.

So it's begun.

The smile seemed real, and she had to admit that Ayumi was a superb actress. But as Ayumi's eyes opened to tell her how wonderfully the two of them looked together, Haibara could almost see the flames and sparks coming out of her eyes, her hands clenched in balls over the pencil in her hand.

" When did you first start?" she asked cheerfully.

Conan could notice almost everyone was looking at the 'innocent' conversation these two girls were having. Even the teacher had stopped writing on the blackboard to look. Haibara just blinked and gave her a smile back. Ayumi looked unfazed.

" Tell you later." She whispered. " It was SO romantic."

Ayumi knew.

Haibara knew.

Neither said anything else.

" Class!!!" the teacher yelled after reverting her eyes from the two of them to the blackboard again. " Pay attention!!!!"

Class ended shortly, and at the end, of it, Haibara brushed past him, and out of the blue, a note was in her hand. Amused by her swiftness, he opened it up.

' She's serious now.' It said.

He looked at Ayumi who winked at him before leaving the classroom.

He frowned.

---------------------------

Haibara raised her eyebrows as Ayumi joined with Conan and her at recess. She didn't like the feeling of this, and knew that Ayumi was up to something. She and Conan would be against her and three others. Although they weren't much, but there was one who would be the most help to her. And that was Mitsuhiko. She glanced sideways at Mitsuhiko who was leaving off for the library. She looked at her watch, clearly ignoring Ayumi who was telling them a joke, with Conan smiling weakly. Twenty minutes to the next class.

" Excuse me," she said, smiling. " I need to go off. I'll be right back."

" Okay." Conan said jointly. " I'll come with."

" No." she said. " I'll go myself."

Several boys looked in their direction, hoping that Haibara would kiss before them once more, but she merely patted his shoulder before disappearing from the table. Ayumi watched her leave, before getting into conversation with Conan. This was her chance. She didn't know if Haibara had some motive behind this, but she thought it was best to get every chance she got.

" So how are you and Ai?" she asked, trying to sound nonchalant as she sipped the drink in her left hand, shaking it slightly.

" What?" he asked distractedly.

" You and Ai." She repeated without hesitation. " How's it going? It doesn't sound easy to be with someone that cold."

" Oh." He said, uninterested.

" Was it her who asked you, or her?" she pressed on.

" Me." He answered truthfully.

" You?" she asked, shocked. " Really?"

" Yeah." He said, looking at Genta shove three sandwiches in his mouth at the same time.

" I always thought it would be her." She said, glaring at him for not paying enough attention to her.

" Oh really?" he asked, watching Genta thump his chest, the recess hall laughing and clapping at the sight of him.

" She badmouths you a lot to me." She said, trying to sound like it merely slipped out of her mouth by the moment.

" Does she really?" he muttered.

Ayumi bit her lip. Conan seemed to have put up a force field over himself over her, trusting Haibara with all his might.

She just had to think of a way to break it, that was all.

She didn't think it would be this hard.

" Do you really love her?" she said sharply. So sharply that he jumped.

" What?" he asked, alert now.

" Do you love her." She said again. " Because---I don't want her hurt."

He almost believed her with that superb acting skills. He set up the usual shield like always. " I do." He said warmly.

She raised her eyebrows, almost bursting out in tears, before smirking. Wait, she told herself. She got it. He was acting. Conan was a good actor, that was true, but his voice quavered up a notch when he said that, and thus, that small moment gave her everything. But she wasn't sure. He spoke so clearly and calmly that it was almost if---he meant it.

" I'm going to look for Sumiko now." She said cheerfully, dropping her drink. Conan felt a pang of guilt as he watched her performance. She got to her feet and walked past him. " Ayumi---," he called out and she stopped. She turned around. He looked away. Just a few weeks more.

" Nothing."

She nodded and walked on. She had to act fast. Before Conan really did fall in love with her. First things first.

She had to find Mitsuhiko.

--------------------

Haibara watched him place the books onto the counter for the librarian to scan. Ayumi was hard to shrug off alone, and with the addition with Mitsuhiko, it made it worse. He was smart. Extremely smart for his age, and she needed him on her side. She didn't normally seduced boys younger than her. She didn't seduce anyone to be in fact, but she just had to. Get this over with, and earn that dress she had wanted for God knows how long.

She sighed.

" You owe me one, Kudo." She muttered.

He walked out, whistling a happy tune when he felt Haibara grab him by the arm, and rush him off into a corner. There was a pipe near the corner of the wall, and she pushed him against it.

" Haibara?" he gasped, shocked.

She looked around. Nobody.

She should be given five minutes to say the least.

" Mitsuhiko," she whispered throatily, and a huge blush fell upon his face. She had never ever called him by his first name before, and almost never did to anyone else. " I need a favour to ask you." One hand was touching his thy, the other stroking his cheek airlessly. He almost fainted.

" W---W---What?" he stammered.

" Well," she said, removing her hand from his cheek to press her finger on her rosy red lips and he shuddered. " I know that you know the little childish battle going on between me and Ayumi, am I not correct?"

" Y---Yeah," he said, trying to breath out, but wafting a smell of Haibara's perfume. ' That's it,' he thought. ' I'm going to faint now.'

Although amused by his reactions, Haibara was feeling sicker and sicker by the moment, seducing a person who was don't know how many years younger than her, and was ready to just lunge in for the kill.

" I was wondering if you could---be on my side for a change." She said, a smile on her lips.

" Like---a spy?" he gasped.

" Yeah?" she asked, stroking his cheek once more. " Is that okay?"

" S---Sure---," he stuttered without a pause. Hr knew that as soon as Hell he would regret it like Hell, but for the moment, being close to two girls he loved wasn't that bad. " What do I have to do?"

" What do you want to know?" he asked.

" Is she angry?" she asked.

" What?"

" Angry." Haibara said again. " Is she angry?"

" I think she is." He said uncomfortably. " Why?"

" Has she started the ten step attack?"

" The what what what?"

" The ten step attack."

He pondered for a moment before nodding furiously.

" Yeah." He said. " She said something about badmouthing you."

She smiled amusingly. Trust her to come up with something so original. Looks like she had better give Mitsuhiko some things to ask Ayumi before anything happened.

" Okay, Mitsuhiko. I need you---," she started, but was cut short by Ayumi's voice.

" Mitsuhiko? Are you there?"

' Shit.' Haibara mentally cursed.

" Hide me." She whispered to him as she hid behind him, the pipe blocking her from Ayumi's view. Mitsuhiko stood before her. " There you are!" Ayumi said, breathing out. " Where were you? I thought you always stayed in the library until the end of recess? What's up?"

" I---I left." He said, mind still on Haibara.

Ayumi raised her eyebrows.

" I'm aware of that." She said.

" Make her leave," Haibara whispered softly.

" Why are you standing like that?" Ayumi asked Mitsuhiko, glancing at his alarming posture. Mitsuhiko blushed furiously, jumping into an army's stance, having Haibara crushed against the pipe. Ayumi frowned. Something was not right. She thought. " What are you hiding?" she asked.

Haibara mentally cursed again.

Mitsuhiko's mind raced. At the sight of Haibara at this moment she would surely suspect something. And where would that bring him? He would lose the confidence of Haibara and the respect of Ayumi. He looked at him hand. A light blinked in his mind. " This." He said, trying to sound as sheepish as he could. She raised her eyebrows at the books in his hand.

" You were hiding books from me?" she asked suspiciously.

" Yeah," he said furiously. " I---I was---I didn't want you to know what I was planning later on."

" Planning?" she questioned on. " Planning what?"

" Er---," he said, sweat beads dripping down from his forehead. " I was planning---about Haibara and Conan."

" Oh?" Ayumi asked on, still suspicious.

" Yeah." He said, braver now. " I wanted to---check something."

" Check what?" she asked on.

Haibara wanted to strange her. She was sweating like crazy now, with Mitsuhiko's back grinding her into the wall, and the dirty pipe didn't help much either. " Check on stuff." He said, mopping his brow. " It's stuff that's secret, and that I can't tell you at the moment."

" Why can't you tell me now?" she asked, walking towards him.

Haibara bit her lip. Mitsuhiko was pressing her into the wall even more with every second, and every square millimeter he increased hurt her to the bone. " I---," he stuttered. " I can't." he ended, somewhat lamely.

" Why?" she asked.

Haibara almost gasped out loud as she saw a cockroach on the wall above her, crawling down to meet them. God, she wished that Ayumi would get a move on. She jabbed him in the back to give him a signal. He got it. " It's not finalized yet." He said slowly, trying to sound important.

The cockroach was making its way down----

" When I'm sure of it---,"

Nearer to her shirt----

" I'll tell you---,"

Centimeters away----

" ---immediately."

She seemed satisfied with his answer.

" Okay then." She said matter-of-factly. " Let's go. I want to tell Genta and Sumiko something, and you too, of course."

Haibara felt a chill.

Oh, Hell no.

" What?" Ayumi asked. " Come on, we don't have all day."

The cockroach was near her shirt now, and she bit her lip in disgust. Then her eyes flickered. Wait a minute. If SHE was afraid of cockroaches---

Smoothly, she lifted her hand and thrust it at her. Ayumi looked at it.

It looked back.

She looked at it again.

It looked back again.

" AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" she screamed, doing some sort of gypsy dance. " See you later." She muttered, dashing away as Ayumi had her back turned, trying to squash it flat. Haibara turned in the corner, smirking slightly at Mitsuhiko. It was glad to have him on her side.

At least there was SOMEONE to help her this time.

---------------------

But things weren't as easy as they seemed.

Haibara, hoping like crazy to get a chance to talk with Mitsuhiko to tell him about the plans, or to even give him Conan's speaker glasses, didn't even get a glimpse of him. Ayumi seemed suspicious of him after all, following him everywhere he went. He and Genta and Sumiko spend every night at her house staying over, and Mitsuhiko's phone had a bugging system on it.

Talk about right on the dot, Haibara thought as she watched Ayumi tag along Mitsuhiko. But things were going to be exceptionally difficult. Hearing from Conan, she had failed in badmouthing her, and that the first thing on the list was a failure. What was the next?

Too bad she wasn't looking at Ayumi that very moment as she walked past her, and too bad the recess hall was too noisy, preventing her from listening the familiar sound which would soon be the start of a nightmare.

Click.

END OF CHAPTER 3

Sorry if this is getting kind of dramatic, but that's what makes it so weird right? Ha ha ha----What do you think of this? I took a long time to do this, and hopefully all that paid off. I don't do this a lot in my stories, but I would like to thank all those who review me, as that has been a huge support for me. THANK YOU ALL!!!! Please look forward for the next chapter!!!!!


	4. Fried chopsticks

Ha ha ha---thank you everyone who waited long enough for me to post this chapter. This is the escalating chapter of the story, and I think this can only last for at most five chapters. But that's good isn't it? I'm tired as snot by writing this. But it's worth it, seeing the reviews. I put in some Haibara/Conan romance scenes in this chapter. After all, you can't have all fight and no---erm---romance, right? Right. This is chapter four everybody! Have a good day, pop down a review for me, and goodnight.

CHAPTER 4

Conan moved out of Ran's house the very next day. There were two things that he lied about, and that was not going there to pick up his stuff, and because he had so little stuff to begin with, it would be a waste of money to call movers over. No matter how sick he was of the smell of beer, bad food (Eri had obviously come back) and Ran's giggly friends pulling at his cheeks, it was still his home for the last few years, and he would miss it dearly. So he went there.

He had asked Haibara to follow him in the beginning, but she had politely denied, and shut herself in her room. Kogoro, with an enormous amount of grumbling and cursing, managed to lift Conan's enormous bag down the long flight of stairs. Conan smiled at his uncle. Indeed he was boring and half-witted, but he was still a nice man, and he would miss him as dearly as he would Ran.

" Take care, okay?" he said to Conan, ruffling his hair.

He smiled.

" Yes, uncle."

Kogoro yawned hugely and went back upstairs for a nap. It was roughly already ten in the morning, but for Kogoro to wake up that early, it was something that the reporters should be using for the top story. Eri smiled at Conan and gave him a brief hug. " It's a pity that you had to leave when I just moved back in." she said fondly, bending down on her knees. " I was going to make you my famous beef potato fish head curry soup before you left."

He smiled weakly.

The name turned him off already.

Ran hugged him last and smiled down at him. " I'll miss you, Conan." She said. She knew that she was being stupid, thinking that she was letting the last sight of Shinichi leave her. But she had a boy-friend now, and she just had to let the past go. She took a shuddering breath and smiled.

" Take care, okay?" she said.

Eri smiled at her daughter.

Conan grinned.

" You bet!" he said, as the Professor lugged the huge bag to the car. He took one last look at the house he was so dearly fond of before turning around. Life was going to have some changes from now on.

He gave one last wave to the two women before getting into the car with the wheezing Professor and drove off.

--------------------

The pictures sold off fast.

Although Ayumi was rather unhappy about selling off pictures of the person she solely detested (At that moment, that is.), she made some happiness and constellation for herself knowing that all the three hundred copies were sold, and there was more than enough money for a pizza stay over. Ayumi counted her money happily, licking the thick wad of dollar bills in her hand.

Mitsuhiko bit into his pizza guiltily, not liking the feeling of eating something that the person he was spying on had paid. Ayumi frowned at him. He had been acting strange ever since the trip to the library. She had suspected something and kept a close watch on him for every second of the day, but she had a feeling that this was not enough. She knew he was not good on the tongue, something he was unable to cure for the last few years, and the only way she could get him to say something out of his mouth to let it slip right out. Easy.

" Mitsuhiko?" she asked.

" Y---Yeah?" he asked distractedly.

She was about to open her mouth to say something when she stopped. She frowned, thinking about that for a moment.

" Nothing." She said simply, getting back to her food.

She grinned.

-------------------

Haibara sneezed.

Conan looked up.

" Bless you." He said.

" Thanks." She mumbled, wiping her nose.

The Professor had left the two of them alone at home to cook for themselves, and Haibara was currently making---

" What are you making?" Conan asked curiously.

" Tempura." She replied.

Tempura.

Conan looked at the sizzling pan nervously. From experience the last time, Haibara's cooking wasn't exactly the best. The others, including the Professor seemed to like it pretty much when she made brownies for Christmas, but cooking for dinner seemed like a totally different thing.

" Haibara---," he said uneasily.

" What is it?" she answered coldly.

" Is it edible?"

She glared at him, dropping the tempura she had her chopsticks on, and oil splattered onto her hand. " Ouch!" she cried, dropping the chopsticks into the pot.

" Wow." He muttered. " Fried chopsticks."

" Stop being a clown." She snapped angrily, walking over to the tap.

" What are you doing?" he asked.

" My hand hurts, thanks to you." She spat angrily. " I'm going to wash it."

" Let me help." He said.

" Yes, Kudo," she said, rolling her eyes. " Maybe you'll miss and spray the entire damn thing on me when that happens. I'll do it myself."

" Haibara." He said tensely.

" What?" she said, clenching her fists.

He didn't say anything but drench the towel he had in his hands, squeezing it dry before dabbing it on her hand gingerly. She blushed in spite of herself. " Thanks." She said, touching the arm, which was given so much care.

" No problem." He muttered, blushing.

Silence.

Then Haibara's eyes widened. " The tempura!" she yelled.

" The chopsticks!" Conan yelled.

They both rushed over to the sizzling pot, one running to the drawer to fish out a ladle, the other to get another pair of chopsticks. Haibara stared at Conan, the extraordinarily small ladle in his hand. " What are you going to do, drink punch from the oil of tempura."

" You should talk." He snapped. " You were the one who dropped it in."

" You were the one who MADE me drop it in." she snapped back.

Silence.

" Fine." He said. " You win this one."

She smirked before fishing the tempura out of the pot one-by-one, and by the time she was done, she was sweating from top to bottom. Conan grinned at her. " How was it?" he asked, smirking.

" Shut up." She snapped. " Give me some tissues."

" I would," he said. " But I don't want to."

" Fine." She said, walking over to the tissue box to wipe herself dry when she noticed that it was empty.

She turned to see him grinning.

" You didn't." she growled.

" Evidence?" he asked.

" I'M a scientist." She said, drawing up her shirt slightly to dry herself, and for some unknown reason he found himself blushing.

She noticed.

She always did.

' Oh, Holy---,' he thought, sweat dripping from his forehead.

" What's the matter, Kudo?" she asked, smirking, walking over to him in a seductive catwalk that would have made a dog horny. " Did I unleash another of your hidden fetishes once more? You must admit I'm getting extremely good at that."

Her finger had slid itself from his cheek to under his chin, lifting it slightly for his eyes to meet hers. " I---Ber---," he stuttered.

" Yeah?" she whispered throatily, her lips closer to his, her tongue once more darting out to meet his again.

" I---," he stuttered once more. As a well-formed adult, he could feel himself dehydrating as she felt her hand on his thigh, sliding up to near his pocket. Their lips were barely centimeters apart when she pulled away, that famous smirk upon her lips once more. In her hand was----

The tissues.

" Shit." He muttered under his breath.

She grinned.

" I always get you on that one, Kudo." She said, grinning.

" Yeah." He said, grumbling, looking away.

" It's almost as if---," she started, before stopping. She turned around to meet his eyes and he looked right back.

Silence.

" Kudo---," she started when the door opened, a loud hacking sound erupting from the door. " It's cold out there!" the Professor wheezed, settling himself down on the chair. Haibara seemed to ponder in though before smirking. " It---It almost seems if your very weakness if women."

" Like James Bond." He said, grinning back.

" Like James Bond." She repeated, rolling her eyes.

---------------------

Darkness filled the room as Sumiko entered the room, Genta hoisting her in. Outside, Ayumi tapped on the computer. " Here it is." She said, wiping the sweat from her brow. She and Mitsuhiko were sitting on a tree, looking downwards as they watched Genta and Sumiko. Genta looked up and gave them the thumbs-up sign. Mitsuhiko smiled and nodded at him.

" There's a figure approaching." Ayumi muttered, taking out the detective speaker that they had not used for God knows how long. Sumiko slid into the empty space between the wall and the cupboard while Genta jumped down onto the ground. The red dot on the heat sensor seemed to stop before the room where she was in before walking onwards into the toilet.

" Clear." Ayumi breathed.

Sumiko nodded and slid out, taking out a hairpin, unlocking the cupboard. The cupboard swung open easily, and Sumiko poured inside.

" What am I looking for?" she muttered.

" The latest maths test of Haibara." Ayumi said without hesitation.

They heard Sumiko tap the receiver once before it shut off. Genta watched her nervously; looking up and down to make sure that nobody was watching or approaching. Sumiko ruffled with the papers, muttering the names to herself as she went on. She had gone halfway when she noticed she was going through the English test papers instead of the Math papers.

Sheepishly, she changed and found Haibara's on the first sheet.

" Got it." She muttered into the receiver.

" Change ' 3' to ' 8'. Change '1' to '4', change '1' to '7'. Change '9' to '8'." Ayumi said quickly. " But don't make mistakes. Make it look as much as her writing."

They were dead lucky that they had a sub for their latest test, thus giving them time to work on it, as she was the only one who marked the papers the next day, and also was the only one who left it in the school cupboard.

" Got it." Sumiko muttered.

Mitsuhiko was feeling a tad guilty about the whole ordeal. Mostly because he didn't like the feeling of cheating on the two groups of his friends, and also cheating on the two girls that he had loved since the beginning of primary school. He sighed once more, and almost gasped in shock as he saw Ayumi's eyes boring into his.

" W---What?" he asked nervously.

Ayumi frowned at him for another few seconds before smiling.

" Nothing." She said cheerfully.

Meanwhile, the tracer that Haibara had dropped into one of Mitsuhiko's books was giving its use. Haibara smirked as she took off her earphones, Conan grinning at her as he took off his. " Ingenious." He said, rubbing his chin. " I never thought they would go that far. Looks like she really does want to have a secret war with you."

" Indeed." She said.

Then she frowned.

" What's wrong?" Conan asked Haibara as the Professor dropped the drinks he brought for them on the table.

" I think Ayumi would be smart enough to notice something's going on." She said, frowning. " She didn't ask Mitsuhiko anything about the book incident, which she knows he was lying."

" Isn't that good?" Conan asked.

She raised her eyebrows.

" Isn't what good?" she asked.

" Her not suspecting anything." He said.

" I don't think that's possible, as Mitsuhiko's acting is not that good." She said flatly. " But if she REALLY didn't know, that still spells bad luck for me."

" Why?" Conan asked.

" The main part of my defense plan is for her to notice something going wrong." She said. " So she would stop trusting Mitsuhiko, which puts one person out of her plan area. Then she would stop trusting the others, and I could think of ways to get them to join our side, but she chose to go against that and act against my will, so she could sneak up on me and Mitsuhiko talking. If she acts like she doesn't suspect anything, he wouldn't suspect anything about her back."

She paused.

He nodded.

" Looks like she really IS smart." He said.

Haibara nodded.

" Three steps were done already." She said, counting them with her fingers. " You told me that she was badmouthing me, Mitsuhiko sent me an SMS yesterday about the whole photographing thing."

" Oh yeah," Conan muttered. " Our personal spy."

" Yup." Haibara said, smirking. " And the third and final one would be the changing of my grades."

" But is that okay?" Conan asked anxiously.

" What?"

" The whole grade changing fiasco." He went on impatiently. " Wouldn't that be bad for your reputation?"

Haibara smirked.

" You think?" she whispered, folding her arms.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, here's where you come in. Naturally I would just go on with what Haibara has to do, but this time I hope I can let the whole of you guess and see what she plans to do. This didn't take me too long to think up, so I think most of you should be able to think what I was planning. Please write it in your review for me whether you solved it!!! (Hopefully more by half didn't---hahaha) But I hope that would come up to be something good. Since I'm writing here, I might as well thank all of you for reading this story until this chapter, and waiting so long for me to update. And once again, I'm sorry.

Okay, done thinking yet? All right, onto the continuation of the story!!!

Enjoy!!!!

----------------------

Haibara pressed her finger onto Conan's lips, taking the bow tie off from the table. He shut his lips questioningly as Haibara dropped her finger, walking over to the phone. What was she up to THIS time?

She seemed to wait for the dial tone, adjusting the tie to the right voice, a smirk plastered on her face. The Professor was listening intently, a bemused expression on his face. Haibara smiled as an answer came onto the line. Conan, confusion and curiosity filling him, pressed the loudspeaker button.

" Hello?" came a familiar voice.

Conan's eyes widened.

Midori-sensei?

" Ah, hello Midori." Haibara said, imitating the tone of the Principal's voice perfectly. The Professor offered her silent applause, although slightly disapproved at the wrong use for his voice-changing bow tie. " I didn't see you in school today. How are you?" She smirked inwardly, amused by the grinning face of the Professor and the shocked look on Shinichi's face.

" I had a fever." Midori said, confused. " I sent a note."

" And so you did." Haibara said, pausing.

Conan raised his eyebrows.

" There was a problem with the test papers today," Haibara said, pretending to sound official and offended, and almost sweatdropped as she heard the teacher gasp. " Yes." She went on, rolling her eyes. " It's ghastly. The two people I'm rather shocked to actually be engaged in this sort of thing."

" Who?" the teacher asked.

" Haibara and Ayumi." Haibara said.

The teacher gasped so loud that Haibara almost thought that she had the fan blowing her way at the receiver. Conan and the Professor winced.

" Thar she blows." The Professor said.

Conan grinned.

" So what should we do?" the teacher asked.

" I gave them one chance," the Principal said. " This would be letting them off easy this time, but I would like to give them a retest. Tear up their current test papers."

" Okay." The teacher said numbly.

" But give it extra hard." Haibara added, and the Professor opened hi mouth in a round 'o' in shock. Conan smirked slightly. ' Smart---,' he thought. " I want it higher than the regular standard." Haibara went on briskly. " Goodnight, Midori. Hope to see you tomorrow."

" Yes, sir." She said. " And Goodnight."

Haibara put down the phone.

" How was that?" she asked, smirking, tossing the bow tie to him.

He sweatdropped.

" Better than ever." He said wearily.

---------------------------

Needless to say, Ayumi got the shock of her lifetime the next day, finding out that both her and Haibara would have to retake the test, but didn't say why. She personally thought they would feel embarrassed being reprimanded if they were scolded twice for something they would have been ashamed to do in the first place. Haibara thanked her sincerely for that.

But for a different reason.

But Ayumi knew.

She frowned at Haibara.

" Ai---," she said, and Haibara turned.

" What is it?" she asked.

Ayumi bit her lip.

" Nothing." She said.

----------------------

" Not good at all, Ayumi." The teacher said, handing back the paper.

Haibara had gotten full marks, needless to say.

Ayumi, although smart, got a 49.

Her face burned.

" It was hard." She said poutily.

" Nonsense." The teacher said stoutly, although knowing that that was not the case. Ayumi had already done extremely well for her age. The test paper she gave them was for a grade above them, and was amazed Haibara could get full marks. " You will just have to work harder. Get ready for the last lesson."

" Okay." Haibara said after tucking the paper into her bag.

Ayumi glared at Haibara's back.

" That's it." She muttered through gritted teeth.

Haibara turned around, making her jump.

" What was that?" Haibara asked.

" N---Nothing." Ayumi said sweetly.

Haibara nodded and turned around.

She frowned.

END OF CHAPTER 4

Okay, Ayumi's up to the third of the tenth. Here goes the countdown!!!! What will the fourth be? It's going to be bad. Very bad. For someone of Ayumi's age, that is. More Conan/Ai scenes in the next. The next will be jam packed, so please review me!!!!!!! THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!


	5. Skive

Okay, my fellow friends, here's chapter five. You might be wondering how could I possibly end with such a screwed up story. Well, rest assured, I'm going to get to that. But before I do, there still are seven more of Ayumi's attacks and Haibara's defenses I must do. What would they be? Come to think of it---I haven't really thought of it well enough yet---Hahahaha---Must rack my brain a bit more I guess. Here's the fifth chapter everyone!!! Please read and review me!!!

(Okay everyone, you all know that this is the second time I posted it. Can you spot the changes that I made?)

CHAPTER 5

The next class was science. It was the time to inspect the living creatures in the pond, something that Conan had rather been looking forward to. He was sick of learning the life cycles of animals in class long enough, and was ready to once again make it out. They were in the garden when they did this, and Conan seized the opportunity to be in the group nearest to the pond.

Up close.

It was extremely cold when they got there, and it was pretty hard to saw whether most of the animals inside the pond would be alive or not. But it turned out they were, and most of them merely skidded under the cool water of the pond.

" Heh---I never would have thought you would be so excited about something you had done for the past few years," Haibara said to him, smirking. Conan raised his eyebrows at her. " I'm fond of water." He said simply, and she smirked, the clipboard pressed against her chest.

" If that's the case you could try a bathtub."

" You---,"

They stopped, and Haibara turned, noticing several people watching. Blushing furiously, they looked away. Haibara raised her eyebrows and Conan grinned. " Wow, I didn't think it was possible for you to be even more popular than before after the photograph incident."

Haibara said nothing.

She was not exactly pleased with the fact of her photographs being given out randomly to almost every boy in the school. She wasn't jumping for joy that she didn't notice it either. Ayumi pouted as she saw Haibara and Conan together. Genta approached, rubbing his head.

" Should I do it now?" he asked.

Ayumi looked around.

Nobody was watching. Most of them were fascinated with the animals in the pond.

" Yeah." She said. " Hurry."

Genta nodded.

Mitsuhiko bit his lip.

" Genta---," he said, and Genta stopped halfway.

" Yeah?" he asked.

He looked away.

" Don't hit her too hard." He said.

Genta nodded and walked off. Ayumi raised her eyebrows but pretended she didn't hear what he just said, acting like she was talking to Sumiko all along. ' Traitor.' She thought silently, a cloud of anger filling her heart.

" A pond skater!" a girl squealed excitedly, inching closer to have a better look. Haibara nodded and ticked the checkbox. " Gee, I wonder how many legs they have." She muttered sarcastically and Conan chuckled.

Suddenly she felt a painful shove in the back and she gasped, dropping the clipboard as she flew forward, falling off the plank and smashing head first into the icy pond. The first thing she could think of was that she was wet. That was just plain stupid. The next thing was that she was cold. That wasn't so bad too. She had been through that a lot of times in training. She would get the cold for days, but that was it. Next was that there were insects around her. Her female instincts told her to scream, but she had been in a tank full of cockroaches for a whole hour to be qualified for the Black Organization. No big.

But the smug look on Ayumi's face, the grin that seemed to be filled with satisfaction and anger at the same time filled Haibara with both fear and absolute anger.

" Haibara!" Conan yelled, running towards the pond.

" No." the teacher said firmly, stopping him. " I don't want you to catch a cold too." He grabbed a nearby plank and hoisted it to her, in which she grabbed it, and was pulled out. Genta secretly high-fived Ayumi.

" Haibara, are you okay?" Conan asked anxiously, as he watched a soaked Haibara walk towards the side of the pond.

" Never better." She said bitterly, yanking a water-beetle out of her hair.

Several girls screamed.

" Follow me to the sick bay." The teacher said importantly. " I can guarantee you'll get a cold, but let's hope we can make it less worse than expected." He drew frog eggs out of her hair. Conan swore he heard someone swoon from behind. " I'll bring her." Conan said. The teacher looked surprised. Normally he would have disagreed, but the anger in his eyes prevented him, and all he managed was a mere nod. Conan took off his sweater and draped it on her shoulders, pulling her away towards the door. There were murmurs from all directions.

Haibara felt herself blushing in his arms as he opened the door for her. " Come on." He said, patting her on the back. Mitsuhiko and more than half the class felt a pang of jealousy at the sight of that, but said nothing. Ayumi frowned. Was Conan really in love with Haibara? She thought.

Oh well.

She'll find out later.

She dug into her pocket for a pencil and notebook and flicked it open.

' Push her into the pond.'

She crossed it out and smiled.

Six more to go.

-----------------------

" I'm not THAT sick." Haibara said irritatibly.

Sure she was pleased of all the attention she got from Conan, but him tucking her in the bed at the sick bay was just WAY too much.

" My bad." He said, blushing furiously as he stepped back.

She smiled slightly.

" But thanks anyway."

He blushed and looked away; ready to make some tea for her. He tipped the teapot slightly towards the cup. " So what do you plan to do in revenge now?" he asked quietly, handing her the cup silently. She sneezed quietly, wiping her nose. It was amazing to Conan how it was possible for Haibara to make that look delicate, but somehow she did.

" Nothing yet." She said softly.

" NOTHING yet?" he yelled, and she flinched. " She threw you into a pond!!! Ice cold!!! And that's just step four!!! What could step ten be??? Throwing you into a pot of lava!!!!???" She blinked.

" Why do you care so much?" she asked.

He stopped in mid-sentence.

" What?" he asked.

" Why do you care?" she repeated. " It's not like it was you who was pushed in."

Emotions flooded him as his lip quivered, watching her lie there. Maybe it was just how amazing beautiful she looked with drenched hair, or maybe it was just the question that was asked. Whatever it was, he bent down and pressed his lips against hers. Her eyes widened as she felt his lips against hers, his hand grazing her cheek softly, the other pushing the blanket downwards, trailing down to her waist. She whimpered, shutting her eyes.

Taking this as consent, he closed in on her, his tongue clicking against her teeth before dropping to her tongue, enjoying the sweet taste of her mouth. She moaned out loud, her hands wrapping around his neck. One of his legs gently dropped to the bed, decreasing the small space between them, breaking the kiss for a second to drop down on the bed carefully.

" Kudo---," she breathed.

" Shh." He muttered, claiming her lips once more. She was shocked. Bedazzled. Being her first kiss, the taste of another's lips were still unknown to her as she drank in him, feeling his arms hook her by the armpits so he could edge in closer to her. She granted access, shifting backwards slightly.

He moaned, his hands reached to the top button of her uniform.

Her eyes flickered open.

She pushed him away gently, breathing hard.

They stood there, panting for a short moment.

" What was that for?" she asked, licking her dry lips.

He could have told her.

He could have told her right there. But being unsure and untruthful to himself, he smirked at her and her eyes widened.

" Got you." He grinned.

Her eyes widened.

Got---you? Was it all an act---?

She watched him grin, before smirking.

" Yeah." She said. " You did. For a first."

There was another silence that followed that, and Conan tapped his foot on the ground uncomfortably.

" How are you going to come at Ayumi?" he asked once more.

She didn't answer.

" I don't know." She said simply after another moment of silence. " I guess I'll just wait until her next move."

His raised his eyebrows.

" But what if you get hurt?" he asked.

She smiled.

" I won't." she said reassuringly. " I never get tricked twice."

But somehow Conan wasn't so sure.

-----------------------

Ayumi sighed as she drank from her drink, watching Mitsuhiko out of the corner of her eye. He was being strange. He was being extremely strange, she could tell. It was killing her to not confront him, but knowing that in the end it would be all worth it, she kept her cool and said nothing. She watched Genta pig out for a moment before sighing and taking out the notebook once more.

It was obvious that Haibara was experienced. She usually didn't have to get past the second, and the person would have already moved out of school. But Haibara did it so calmly and fluently---it seemed like Haibara was able to sense what she was up to before she even got down to it. The shove by the Genta---she could have already sensed it. She could have already known. But why did she stand by the pond? Didn't she know what was going to happen?

She looked out the window.

Haibara was smart. There was no doubt at that. Ayumi was sure that Haibara was behind the whole retest thing. Her first plan was to badmouth her. Haibara most likely already told Conan about it. That failed terribly. The second was taking pictures of her. She was sure to let Haibara know, because she made two boys she knew pretend to talk to each other about the whole ordeal as she saw Haibara walk by. But she just kept her cool and didn't care about it.

The only one that was successful was the last one, but that wasn't so smart of an idea. She had to outsmart Haibara. Somehow she would. She rubbed her chin in thought. What would she hate to happen to her? Something that was embarrassing. She sighed and turned back to her friends.

" What would you hate to happen to you guys?" she asked.

They were at her house at the moment, needless to say, and were currently in the living room, playing cards. They stopped all of a sudden, Genta's eyebrows raised up high.

" What?" he asked.

" Be kissed by the teacher." Sumiko said.

Ayumi smiled wirily at her.

" And just how am I supposed to make the teacher KISS Haibara?"

" Oh---," Sumiko said sheepishly. " Right."

Mitsuhiko said nothing.

Ayumi raised her eyebrows at him.

" Well, Mitsuhiko?" she asked.

He shrugged. " I don't know."

" Really?" she asked, voice as oily as hair cream. " You don't know, or don't want me to know that you know?"

There was a rather hard sentence and as Genta and Sumiko pondered, Ayumi's mother's voice rang out. " Ayumi!" she called out. " Can you help me get my clothes from my room? I forgot to get them."

" Okay." Ayumi said, rolling her eyes.

Then she stopped.

Mitsuhiko frowned.

No, she wouldn't---would she?

" Sumiko," Ayumi said quietly, struggling to keep her voice calm. " When is the next swimming lesson?"

" Let me see---." Sumiko said. " Three days from now."

Mitsuhiko shuddered as his head whipped up to meet Ayumi.

There was a grin on her face, shadowing the usually peaceful and sweet Ayumi. Her tongue darted out of her mouth slowly to kick her dry lips.

" Excellent." She whispered.

" Ayumi! My clothes!" yelled her mother, totally ruining the dramatic tension of my story.

----------------------

Sure enough, Haibara was sick. But thanks to the care of Conan and the medicinal pills given from the Professor, she was back to normal in just two days. She and Conan walked to school together the next day, Conan yawning as he kicked a loose soccer ball from the grounds back to the field. Haibara sighed as she put her hands in her pockets, looking up at the sky.

It was sunny, but why did it seem so dark? She nodded as three girls waved at her and looked sideways at Conan who was talking to his school team members about an upcoming match. One of them saw her looking and he winked at her. She raised her eyebrows but said nothing.

It was fun to be away from school for two whole days, the battle with Ayumi was really tiring her out. But she was glad to be back, as swimming was a class that she was rather looking forward to. She was pretty good at that, being able to beat Gin at the three-round step, one of the moves he was really good at. It was fun to see him fume in a corner for a moment there. But she was also dreading what Ayumi would be planning to do to her in the pool.

Make Genta sink her?

Drown her?

No, that was way too mean, and too obvious. What Ayumi would do would be sneaky and secretive. Would it be to lock her up in the bathroom? There was a possibility to that. Conan waved goodbye to his friends and hummed a happy tune as he and Haibara pushed open the school doors and walked towards a familiar room which they always dreaded to go to so much. But as they entered the classroom they noticed that Ayumi was not there. Haibara blinked and glanced sideways at Conan who was searching all around the class with his eyes.

" She's not here." He muttered, clearly amazed.

" Well spotted." She muttered sarcastically.

Haibara was about to ask Mitsuhiko about this, but found out that he too was missing. She raised her eyebrows. What was going on here? Her eyes moved along towards the usual seats of Genta and Sumiko, but they too were missing from sight. Conan grinned. He clearly seemed to think that they weren't coming. But somehow Haibara was not so sure.

It was only until later that they found out that the four of them all had the fever and were sent to stay at home. Conan didn't believe this for one second, and neither did Haibara. But it unfortunately cause them to drop their defenses as they found out from the teacher that Ayumi's mother had written a note to explain their excuse, and said that they were all under her care. She even called the school to confirm that. This made Conan and Haibara loosen their defense immensely.

Little did they know that Ayumi's mother had locked the door after seeing them feint sleep, and as she went out to buy medicinal herbs, they escaped by the window. But of course, nobody knew that.

It was swimming soon enough, and Haibara dressed by herself in a corner. She wrapped her clothes in a bag, stuffed her clothes in a locker and locked it tight. Was Ayumi really sick? She sincerely doubted so. But since there was her mother to rake care after her, she guessed there would be no harm done. She left the room as soon as that. Just as she left, a figure looked around to see that there was nobody around. She smirked as she took out a skeleton key. She flicked open the lock and grabbed the bag, tossed out the contents and threw in random dirty clothes.

" Gomen, Haibara." She whispered, locking it once more.

She grinned.

------------------------

Conan blushed.

And so did all of the other twenty-three boys in the swimming pool.

Haibara raised her eyebrows at them and they looked away. She stretched and walked over to Conan. " Hey." She said. " Hey." He said, looking away. There was a perfect opportunity to taunt him once more, but just as she was about to, the teacher called out and called for them that it was time to hit the pool.

Screaming and yelling, boys plunged into the pool with belly flops and dives. Haibara sighed as she stepped in, the water lapping at her. She smiled peacefully. This was the life. She had always enjoyed being in water since young, but was obviously not fond of being in freezing cold ponds, thank you very much. She dipped her head into the water and opened her eyes.

Conan stared right back.

Gasping, she rushed for the surface, choking on water.

" Kudo!" she yelled, nose clogged with water.

" Hi." He said meekly.

" What are you doing?" she asked.

' Watching you.'

" Nothing." He said, and swam away.

She watched him leave.

" Hmph." She smirked. " Who are you trying to kid, Kudo?"

---------------------

The lesson ended relatively early, and Haibara was reluctant to leave as she dried her hair with her towel. " Hey," Conan said cheerfully, walking up to her. She merely nodded. " It's almost at the end of school already, after we change up, do you want to watch a movie or something? There's something that I wanted to watch."

He smiled inwardly. He had rehearsed this by himself at the pool, and was glad that all that practice smoothened out his nervousness, and he actually sounded okay and calm once again.

Did Sherlock Holmes ever have this problem?

Haibara seemed to consider for a moment before smirking and shrugging. " Okay then." She said. " But I'll take longer that you usually would, so after you finish wait for me at the café. I'll be there soon enough."

He didn't like the way she said that, but glad that she actually agreed in the first place, a smile brightened up on his face. " Okay then." He grinned, walking towards the boys changing room. " See you then."

" Yeah." She said, and walked off.

--------------------

" Hey Edogawa."

Conan raised his eyebrows and turned, and grinned as he saw the rest of his soccer friends walking over to him, smiles on their faces. " Hey." He said. He had just finished showering, and was at the café waiting for her. The others took the seats at the empty table immediately.

" What's up?" Hikaru asked. " Why are you alone?"

" I'm waiting for someone." He said.

The others grinned at each other.

" What?" he asked wirily.

" You and Haibara." Yoro said, pouncing in, grinning from ear to ear. " How's it going? You two have been going out for ages now."

" It's only been a few days." Conan said, rolling his eyes.

" That's ages and heaven already!" Joiro said, almost falling out of his seat in excitement. " She's the most popular girl in school and you're like---a very popular guy too! It's like---Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston!"

" Who's that?" Conan asked.

" Nobody." Joiro said, coughing uncomfortably. Then he jumped back into the main subject. " But screw that. How are you and her going? Have you kissed yet?"

" No." Conan said untruthfully.

The others looked at each other.

" Lie." Yoro said.

" Definite. Who are you trying to kid?' Hikaru said.

" Come on," Joiro moaned. " Spill the beans."

" No." he said flatly. " It's our business."

The others gaped.

" He sounds like he's married."

" True dat."

" Conan and Haibara sitting in a---,"

" Oh shut up." Conan said, flushing. " Get out of here."

" Let us know all about it." Joiro said, winking. " See you at training."

" Ask your wife to bring some snacks for us!" they teased, running off.

Conan grimaced. Kids grew up so fast these days that it was almost scary. He sighed and drank his drink.

----------------------

Haibara admitted she took a little bit too long in the shower. She also admitted that she had done this to just see the look of Conan's face as she showed up one or two hours late. She smiled to herself as she switched off the shower tap. She wrapped the towel around her waist and pushed open the shower door.

Nobody.

Looks like she was in there way too long.

She grabbed the bag she had brought in with her and opened it up, and got ready to---

She looked at it.

Huge oversized clothes with mud traces on them.

" You've GOT to be kidding." She muttered.

END OF CHAPTER 5

Hey everyone!!! Please read and review!! Chapter 6 coming right up!!!!


	6. Hours to seconds

Hello everybody. Thank you all for the reviews!!!! The story will soon, yes, come to an end (In three or four chapters or so), whether that's good news or not. It's highly possible for me to make a sequel, which I might consider of Ayumi and Haibara teaming up. But before I start a new story, I must finish an old one, agreed? Yeah. So thank you all for the support thus far, and please continue reading until the end!!!

CHAPTER 6

Oh great.

She let her defense go down for a second and this is what happens. She dropped the bag onto the floor and rubbed her chin thoughtfully. Okay. She was tricked. Now what? The shower room was already totally empty so she couldn't ask anybody for help. She couldn't go out with a towel draped around her waist, because that would just be plain stupid and would be digging her own grave. She looked up at the ceiling and sighed. Maybe it would have been smarter to be on time with Kudo at that time after all. Then she frowned.

There was a lizard on the wall. She raised her eyebrows at it as it scampered itself to the mirror and hit itself against it. " Smart." She muttered under its breath. She sighed and turned her attention back to her situation. What was she supposed to do now? She took a brave breath and pushed the door open.

Nobody.

" Hello?" she called out, but was answered by nothing but silence and the echo of her own voice. She took a step out but flinched as she felt a cold air meet her. She stepped back in the cubicle and shut the door quietly. How stupid of her. She totally forgot about the fans found at the changing area. She sighed and dropped down to the floor, the back of her head pressed against the wall. She really wished someone would come and help. She was seriously uncomfortable and was drenched from head-to-toe. And she was cold. If only there was some sort of---

She looked at the dirty clothes.

Oh, Hell no. She thought, shivering at the thought.

She pulled herself together and looked up at the ceiling once more at the lizard who was crawling its way down to the bottom of the mirror until it was out of view.

How bloody long would she have to wait for Kudo to find out that something was wrong, and dare himself to walk into a girl's bathroom? Very. She looked up at the ceiling. Looks like she had to count the tiles of the ceiling until he came after all.

" One---," she muttered. " Two---,"

--------------------

Conan drummed his fingers on the table, looking at his watch irritatibly. It was just like Haibara's attitude to keep him waiting for so long. But it was already almost the second whole hour he was waiting for her, and he didn't even see the shadow of her yet. Could something have happened to her? He got up anxiously before considering the situation for a moment. Then he sat down. No, he was being stupid. Nobody beside Ayumi had a grudge against Haibara at the moment, and Ayumi was currently under the care of her mother.

Maybe Haibara was just testing how long it would take for him to finally get up and see what was going on. She had probably even finished her shower extra early to dress up in a disguise or something, and was watching him at the moment. He looked around the café for any curious human beings.

There was an old man in the corner who was either asleep or someone had to call an ambulance, two girls in a corner, giggling as they read some kind of comic, a boy who was studying while eating, a mother and her son and three waiters who were muttering something within themselves.

He smirked and drank his drink. He'll wait.

He'll wait.

-------------------------

" Three hundred and four---," Haibara muttered tonelessly. " Three hundred and five---three hundred and---," She stopped in mid-sentence, sighing. This was just plain stupid. Not to mention boring. She was actually rather looking forward to going out with Kudo, interested in what kind of movie he would want to watch. Some detective movie, no doubt. She looked at her hands. " Oh, it's all wrinkly." She muttered angrily, rubbing them against the towel.

" Crap." She sighed, patting down her wet hair. " If only---,"

What was that? She swore she heard the door creak open. She raised her eyebrows and got to her feet. All that was between her and outside was a partially opened door, her hand grasped on the handle, trying to look outside. Footsteps quickened outside as something was flung inside. She caught it in mid-air, and she heard the person outside run away as fast as possible. Alarmed, she wrenched the door open.

" Wait!" she yelled as the door slammed behind her.

She glared at the door for a moment before she opened the bag slowly and cautiously.

She peered inside.

Her clothes.

She raised her eyebrows.

Hmm.

Odd.

----------------------

Conan glared at the clock. That was it. It was past three hours and he was angry, tired, sleep, vexed, frustrated, desperate, anxious, sad, hurt, guilty, upset, cold, wet, bummed and just plain bloody angry out of his mind. (All of them with many of the same meanings, actually.) He got to his feet, pushing the chair harshly and made his way for the door. It was past three hours already, and at the moment he didn't really give a damn if she came or not.

He was just about to get out when a waiter walked over to him.

" Er---sir?" he whispered timidly.

" Yes?" he answered harshly.

" Would you mind---staying here for another ten minutes? The waiters and I had this bet going on on how long you would wait. I---sort of bet that you would stay until five."

Anger and confusion filled him as he pushed past him and walked out. He wrenched open the door and stomped down the stairs. The waiter whistled, frowning disappointedly as he looked at his watch. " Damn," he muttered. " Looks like he really did wait for a long time for her."

--------------------------

Haibara was almost running as she pushed open the door to the café. She hoped she didn't make him wait too long. She knew he was extremely patient for somehow who was so short-tempered at the exact same time, but she couldn't take her chances. She peered inside, biting her lip. He wasn't there. She stepped inside, looking at the clock on the wall as she walked onwards.

It was four fifty-three.

" Damn." She muttered.

" He left just a minute ago." Someone said behind her and she spun around. A waiter looked back at her, the menu placed in his hands. She clenched her fists. " Where is he?" she asked.

" I don't know." He said delicately. " He seemed to be rather angry when he left, madam. You could try to catch up, I think you can make it."

She nodded and ran right out.

The waiter watched her leave, a familiar smirk on his face.

" Good luck." He whispered.

--------------------------

Conan kicked a rock as he walked onwards. Never did he think that Haibara would be this cruel and mean to him. He had half expected her to be outside waiting for him, a smirk on her face, in something that made her look more beautiful than ever, and all his anger would ebb away. But she didn't, and even until now when the school was almost out of view she still was not there, out of sight. It was also impossible that she was in trouble. The thought didn't even cross her mind. It was just impossible, and at that moment he didn't think he would even care if she was.

" Kudo!"

He ignored the familiar voice. Well, here she came when the joke was over. She would grin at his angry face, and he knew he could never stay angry with her. He was too bloody easy to forget his anger around her that it was almost scary. Maybe there was something in APTX that made him like that. He guessed he would have to ask her in the future when he next saw her.

" Kudo!"

Shut up, Haibara. He pounded furiously in his mind. He just wanted to stay angry with her for once. That would stop her teasing and insulting for once. Yes, that was just what he would do.

" SHINICHI!"

What did she just---call him?

He stopped, and spun around, coming face to face with her. She looked as beautiful as ever; sweat dropping down from her forehead, still in her school uniform. But the strangest thing was that there were tears streaming down her face. She was crying. " Haibara." He whispered softly, shock filling him. " I'm sorry," she said out, biting her lip. " I was stuck in something---I just---,"

He smiled softly, and was about to bring her into a hug when he noticed something strange about her. He surveyed her for a moment before grinning at her. She looked surprised. " Nice acting, Haibara." He said. Her eyes widened before she smirked back, wiping the fake tears from her face.

" Thanks." She said, grinning. " But I really was held up. That whole apology was real, but I thought you would soften up and forgive me earlier if I was crying and spilling out my sadness."

" And it worked?" she asked, voice full of sarcasm.

She flinched and sighed.

" Ayumi took away my clothes." She said softly and he felt his anger fade away once again. It took him a solid minute before he realized what she had meant and was trying to say, and his mouth opened and shut in a rather stupid ways eh had to admit. And just stood there, watching the many different reactions of him light up on his handsome face.

" Oh." He said lamely.

" Yeah." She said. " And---I'm sorry."

She bit her lip, looking up at him pitifully.

He glared at her for a moment before sighing, scratching his head. " You have GOT to tell me your secret of making people forgive you that easily." She smirked and patted him on the shoulder. " It's a gift." She said. " Now. What about that movie?" His eyes widened and she raised her eyebrows.

" You really want to go?" he asked.

" No." she said deftly. " I just think that since I made you wait for so long in a useless café I just thought I owed you something."

He rolled his eyes.

----------------------

Ayumi smiled as she walked to her room, opening the lock, which held Haibara's clothes. She had kept it in a place that only she could open, and did not tell anybody the locker combination. She smirked softly and flicked open the door. Her eyes widened. It was empty. She blinked. Her hands reached inside unnecessarily, as if she was expecting that it turned invisible over the long hours. But there was nothing. As nothing as plain as the eye could see.

She turned behind her, expecting for someone to come in. Nobody. She sat down on her bed, thinking. It was impossible for Sumiko to do it, because she was with her the whole moment. It was also impossible for Genta, because he was eating or should she say----pigging out at the ice-cream shop. The only one left was---Mitsuhiko. She bit her lip, her nose flared.

Looks like he really was a traitor after all. But she could use that to her own advantage. She walked out, peeking at the three of her friends who were lounging at her living room. Her mother had checked their status and declared them healthy once more, and it was obvious what they were allowed to do. She spotted Mitsuhiko who was staring out of the window.

She raised her eyebrows and walked out, and the three of them automatically turned to her. She took out the book, ignoring them, and the three of them went back to what they were doing just now. Nothing. She had done five steps already, and all she had to do were the last five. What could she do? Suddenly something flickered in her mind. Mitsuhiko looked at her.

There was something strange about that smile of hers.

" Mitsuhiko?" she asked, voice dangerously sweet.

" Yeah?" he asked nervously.

" I have a favour to ask." She said, that strange smile plastered on her lips.

------------------------

" You WHAT?"

Haibara smirked and walked onwards, flicking out a photograph. " It's not much," she said simply, looking adorably at the dress in the picture. " I think it would suit me extremely well, don't you think?"

" That does not matter." Conan said through clenched teeth. " The price is almost unspeakable. You can't even look at it, because you would get sight problems with all the bloody zeros inside."

She grinned.

She flicked out her handphone from her pocket, and pressed on a familiar button. The voicing was rather fuzzy, but it was obvious who was speaking and what about.

" Okay," came her voice from the receiver. : But only after you do some things for me."

" What?" Came his desperate reply.

" One," her voice said crisply. " You owe me a dress."

" Okay."

" A good one."

" Yes."

" An expensive one."

" OKAY."

She switched it of and put it back in her pocket. " Any questions?" she asked, enjoying the look of shock on Conan's face. " I suspected that this might happen, so I recorded it into the computer, and used Bluetooth to save it into my handphone. Fantastic thing, technology is." Conan's mouth opened and shut unnecessarily a few times before sulking and glared at her.

" Fine." He said. " But only after everything is over. I need some time to save up too, you know."

" Deal." She said, and turned her heel.

" Where are you going?" he asked.

She raised her eyebrows, looking rather uncomfortable. " I thought you said we were going to watch. A movie." She said.

His eyes widened.

" You really want to see it?" he asked.

" No." she said crisply. " Seeing that I made you wait made me feel rather guilty, and did not wish for you to be sulky for the rest of the day just because I did not fulfill such a small menial task."

He pouted.

Then he smiled.

" Okay." He said cheerfully, then looked down at her school uniform disappointedly.

" What?" she asked.

" Nothing." He said, blushing, taking a step forward.

She smirked at his back. " You expected me to wear something more appealing than my school uniform, didn't you?" she asked, and he stopped to a halt. He turned, blushing furiously. " R---Rubbish." He said angrily. " Come on. The show starts at six." She raised her eyebrows as she struggled to keep up with his fast pace. " And what's the title of the movie?" she asked.

He grinned. " You'll know." He said.

--------------------

" Oh, you've SO got to be kidding."

Conan grinned at her, folding his arms, standing below the huge banner above him. It was black and white, a young man with a small moustache across his face, a top hat on his head, a cane on his hand. " Isn't this Hitler?" she asked tonelessly, pursing her lips. She had half-expected him to make her watch some sort of detective story. Not that she would mind, but watching some mutated form of Hitler was far more than stupid as it was.

" Hitler?" he asked, confused. Then he stopped. " Haibara---," he droned on, staring at her wirily. " That's Charlie Chaplin."

" Charlie what?"

" Chaplin."

She bit her lip thoughtfully. She remembered Gin telling her about something like this, but she didn't agree to watch it with him. His eyes widened, his hands falling from their previous fold. " Don't tell me you never watched Charlie Chaplin before." He said suspiciously, taking a step closer to her.

" No." she said flatly. " As a matter-of-fact I haven't. When have you?"

" I liked it for a very long time, actually." He said, grinning. " But I stopped every since I shrunk, because I couldn't get my hands on the tapes once more. Then I saw an advertisement about it showing here today, so I wanted to bring you along!" She rubbed her chin, taking another look at the black-and-white picture before her. It seemed a lot less intimidating than it did before. She sighed and turned to Conan, who was watching her nervously.

" What genre is it?" she asked.

" Humor." He said, relieved that she was at least considering it.

She watched him for a moment. He was looking more hopeful and eager than he did previously, and she had to admit that she was looking forward to seeing that expression turn into depression. But what the Hell, she already tortured him enough for the day, might as well let him have his fun.

" Okay." She said simply.

He grinned.

" Really?" he asked.

" No." she said. " I was just kidding."

Ignoring that, he turned his heel to buy the tickets. She smirked softly, stepping backwards to lean against the pillar behind her. It indeed was a warm day. Almost made her look forward to the movie they were going to watch inside a cold theatre, eating popcorn and sipping a cool drink.

Ayumi watched her, frowning. She knew that she had asked Mitsuhiko to carry out the sixth step. Indeed she did. But unable to just stay at home, she ran out to look for them, and it was merely good luck that she spotted Haibara leaning against a pillar outside a movie theatre. Lucky for her. She looked at the theatre. It seemed to be pretty run down. Most likely to be----

She stopped.

Something clicked in her mind.

She grinned.

----------------

" HACHOO!"

The counter lady looked at Conan.

" Flu?" she asked.

" No." he said, wiping his nose.

END OF CHAPTER 6

Yeah!!! The end of a tiring chapter!!!! How are all of you? But enough of the small talk, what did you think of the story? Can you guess what Ayumi's about to do next? See how good your imagination is!!! Thank you for the reviews!!! I'll be as quick as I can to update to chapter 7!!!!


	7. Kiss

Thank you everyone for the reviews!!! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW THIS CHAPTER!!!!

CHAPTER 7

" There's no sound." Haibara remarked, crossing her arms.

" That's what it was like last time." Conan said, grinning. " There was no sound in movies at that time. Charlie Chaplin was a breakthrough and still one of the most famous shows even after sound came into movies. There were over ten new movies that appeared into the theatre at the sixth running of Charlie Chaplin's newest movie, and he still trashed all of them flat, even with a movie with no sound and was still black and white. Why, I remember---,"

" Not that." She cut in irritatibly, looking around in the cinema. " There's nobody in here." Conan raised his eyebrows and surveyed the theatre. Indeed there was. Previously when he and the detective boys went to an empty theatre, there were at least two or three people still in there. But there was nobody here. Not a person. " Must not be a very popular theatre." He said sheepishly, sitting down promptly at the seat before him.

" You think?" she aid sarcastically, sitting down right next to him. " This place's top movie is Charlie Chaplin. I bet even the cockroaches are starting to walk out on this place."

" Charlie Chaplin," Conan began hotly. " Is one of---,"

" Best movie in the universe." She finished for him tonelessly. " I heard, and I understood."

He said nothing.

" Hey look, there it starts now." He said cheerfully.

She said nothing.

The movie started soon afterwards, and Haibara for once, stopped murmuring sarcastic comments out of the side of her mouth and actually sat down to enjoy the show. It was a good show, Haibara was forced to admit, and actually finding herself hiding a smile away from Conan one or more times to prevent him from self-satisfaction. But Conan saw it. He even saw her snort on her coke at an antic that Charlie did. He smiled softly.

This was one of the few occasions where she laughed. Or even showed a real smile, for once. If it was Ran who was sitting next to him at the moment, she would be clutching her chest from laughter. But that was Ran, the girl who rarely had a frown on her face. The one who had a normal childhood. His attention turned back to the movie, grinning at the very sight.

He remembered lugging his mother to the theatre, just to get a slight glimpse of the mother of all comedy. Haibara watched Conan laugh out of the corner of her eye. She smiled softly. That stupid dumbass. Just like his character to laugh so openly at a small pun such as that. She opened her mouth to tell him just that, but as he laughed once more, she stopped. She blinked. She smiled and turned back to the movie, popping a piece of popcorn into her mouth.

Maybe she'd just let him off this time.

Just once.

Once.

---------------------

Ayumi opened the door silently, surveying the area. There were two bobs of heads near the third last row, and she smirked inwardly. " Bingo." She whispered under her breath. She tiptoed forward, her eyes nervously looking around to make sure that nobody was watching her. It was also just then she realized that the entire theatre was empty. Funny. Looks like even God was on her side after all. She balloon in her hand was choke filled with a strange substance which she had spend hundreds on eBay to get, something that she was sure that Haibara would have to spend hours just to get out. Lucky for her.

Before she knew it, she was right behind them, crouched down just in case either of them saw her. She had half-hoped that Haibara had dressed up well, so that it would be a worst impact on her when she was dipped from head-to-toe in muck. Oh well. She would be satisfied with one of the two, she guessed. She got to her feet slowly, ready to run as soon as the balloon was thrown. She looked down on her past-best friend and 'boy-friend'.

She bit her lip.

Then her eyes flickered open as she released it over Haibara's head, and dashed out the door as silent as she could. A splatting sound sounded in the empty cinema, and she grinned in triumph as she made her way out of the room, shutting it quietly behind her.

" What the Hell?" she heard Conan yell.

It took Haibara a second to realize that she was covered in a sticky substance, a balloon wrapper on her lap. Conan's eyes widened as he reached over, a finger to scoop some of the substance off her lap, testing it. " I don't know what it is yet," he said frowning. " But no doubt it's hard to get rid off."

" Brilliant observation." Haibara spat out, wiping the substance from her eyes. Conan glared at the door. He frowned. He swore he had heard footsteps previously, but didn't want to bother about it much. " Come on." He said, ignoring the comments she was muttering out once more. " We'd better get you home to have you washed up properly."

She didn't say anything.

" Okay." She whispered softly, as Conan grabbed her shoulders, walking her out of the dark cinema. She felt his strong grip on her.

She blushed.

--------------------------------

" Ah?"

Conan nodded as the professor turned backwards to hear Haibara drop her bag down angrily, making her way to the bathroom. " I'm going to take a shower," she said flatly. " If that's okay with everyone."

Not waiting for an answer, she stopped to the bathroom and slammed the door. The professor gave out a long, low whistle as he heard the sound of water enter from the bathroom. " Tell me about it." He said tiredly. " I've never seen her this bitter before. Looks like she does care about her and her clothes very much, even if it's only just her school uniform."

" Yeah." The professor said.

Silence.

" So," Conan started uneasily.

" Yeah." The professor said.

Silence again.

" Read any good books lately?" Conan asked and the professor rolled his eyes.

Silence once more.

" Goddamn shower curtains!!" they heard the usually calm Haibara yell out.

They looked at each other.

" Want to watch a Charlie Chaplin movie?" Conan asked.

" I'll get our coats." The professor answered back, getting up.

---------------------------

Ayumi grinned as she entered her room, and the three of her friends looked at her, alarmed. Ayumi ignored their expressions, and pulled out the familiar book from her pocket once more. The sixth step was completed, and only four more would do the trick. She already had the next one planned out, and as Mitsuhiko had already been forced to agree to it, she was set and ready to go. She smirked. School the next day would be interesting. She looked at Mitsuhiko who was looking out the window once more. Time to end the whole traitor business once and for all.

" Ready for tomorrow's show?" she grinned.

Mitsuhiko looked at her.

He bit his lip.

" Yeah." He said.

She grinned.

--------------------------

Haibara as still cursing to herself after her three-hour long shower, all taken with three separate intervals, and was still cursing while she sat in her room sulking, looking at her ruined clothes. " She's taken it too far." Haibara growled out, slapping the clothes to the ground. A thin trail of slime followed it. She clenched her fists and glared at the picture of her and the detective boys.

The only sole wish that Haibara had now was to make Ayumi the same age as her, allowing her to not pull any punches, leading to the mass pain that Ayumi would go through, all thanks to none other than Haibara herself. She would destroy her, oh yes, she would destroy her.

" Haibara?" Conan asked meekly, appearing through the tiny slip in the door.

" Yes?" she answered curtly, daring him to continue.

" I---," he went on bravely, but only after backing away several steps. " I---I made you some soup, I thought you might need it."

She paused, her icy demour disappearing for the slightest of a moment. " Thanks." She replied softly, nodding for him to enter. Bravely, he stepped inside, and handed the tin of chicken soup to her with both hands. She took it from his trembling hands, and reached for the spoon found on top of the tray.

He looked at his feet nervously, watching her open the lid and place it delicately on the table. " Do you want me to leave?" he asked. " Because I can---,"

" No." she answered, and he stopped. " No, I don't mind."

He smiled at this, and dropped down backwards to the wall behind him. He was rarely allowed to enter Haibara's room, and he looked around. It was much less girly than Ran's room, which was none too what he had suspected all along, as Haibara was just about as girly as a toothpick. But there were certain times where he found her more increasing lady-like than Ran. The way she laughed, the longer she took than ran in the bathroom, her smell, her---

He shook himself, and found Haibara watching him with raised eyebrows.

" What?" she asked.

" What what?" he asked back.

" What what what?" she asked again.

" What what what what?" he asked back.

" What what what what what?" she asked.

" W---,"

" Okay fine." She snapped, " Don't start the continuous argument again."

He smiled.

" So that's a win in my favour?" he asked hopefully.

" Whatever." She said, rolling her eyes.

She sipped her soup, smiling at the taste. Looks like Kudo wasn't that bad of a cook after all. It was both warm and nice, but was nowhere competing with Ran or her sister's cooking. She finished soon enough, and she dropped it onto the table beside her. He got up and took it from her, and started to walk out of the room. She watched him leave, an indescribable amount of different emotions filling her heart. Conan's hand grasped on the door handle.

" Kudo." She said softly.

He stopped, turning around.

" Yeah?" he asked.

She blushed, looking away.

" Thanks for the soup." She said quietly.

His eyes widened, then he grinned.

" No problem." He said, and shut the door behind him.

Silence.

She blinked.

Weird.

--------------------------

" You okay?"

" I'm fine."

" Seriously?"

" Seriously."

Conan nodded, accepting her answer as the two of them walked onwards towards school, a meat bun in Conan's hands. Haibara somehow seemed more sullen and quiet than she did usually. Whether that was even possible he did not know, but she was quiet, terribly quiet. Which was far from what was going on in her head. She had a terrible plan in exchange for Ayumi, but was not sure whether it was the right thing to do that to a mere 12-year old.

Ayumi didn't seem at all her age, that was true, but it was also true that she was Haibara's closet friend besides Conan, and she knew that deep inside that plotting little murder was just a heartbroken kid. And Haibara knew how hard that was to conceal inside. The anger she had for Ayumi faded the following day, and even had slight feelings on calling off the war.

But the very sight of Ayumi running up to them, that cheerful smile on her face, followed closely by Mitsuhiko, Sumiko and Genta told her everything. She smirked inwardly. The war was far from over.

Far from it.

" Hi Conan! Ai!" she said happily.

" Hi." Conan said tonelessly, the bun stuffed in his mouth.

" What's that?" Genta asked, licking his lips.

" A bun." Haibara said.

" Can I have a bite?" Genta asked.

" Go nuts." Conan said, tossing it to him.

Genta caught it with both hands, grinning at it. Ayumi frowned.

" Genta," she said, taking it from him. Haibara blinked. " You're getting too fat. Didn't I tell you to not eat so much?"

She smiled sweetly and handed it to Haibara. " You finish it, Haibara." She said. Conan's eyes flickered. " You're FAR too slim."

Haibara held it, almost glaring at Ayumi.

" You're a really neat eater, Conan." Ayumi said, laughing. " You ate just half of the bun."

She knew.

She knew that the unbitten side of the bread was filled with food poisoning. What a smart little devil she was. Conan bit his lip. He had filled it without even telling Haibara, dying to just punish one of her men a little bit, letting her know how it felt. Looks like it was much harder than he thought.

" Let's go in." Haibara said, the bun in her hand. " The teacher would scold us."

Ayumi smirked and turned her heel and left into the school, followed by an almost crying Genta and Sumiko. Mitsuhiko paused for a moment but didn't say anything, knowing he was under the close watch of Ayumi.

Haibara looked at the bun in her hand.

" Hmph." She smiled, tossing it into the bin.

-----------------------------

Mitsuhiko glanced sideways at Haibara, who was talking to Conan. Blushing, he looked away. He couldn't believe that he had agreed to do what Ayumi ordered him to do. It was wrong, stupid, embarrassing---almost unsanitary. He had never dreamed of doing what Ayumi asked him to do, and in some part of him, he actually was rather looking forward to it.

He had loved Haibara for years now, and it had hurt him to the bone knowing that Conan had just snatched her away from him so easily. He loved her. She loved someone else. He was just a kid, people said. It was just puppy love, they also said. Somehow he didn't think so. Was puppy love constant for many years to go on? He didn't think so. It was pure love.

Pure.

He glared at Conan as he saw Haibara giggle at something he said. Fury filled him. Damn his friendship with Conan. He had always respected him, but that was all going down the drain now. Friendship was over.

He looked away.

Gomen.

Haibara-san.

------------------------

The day was over.

Haibara was surprised.

Nothing had happened to her for the entire day. She had even braced herself to get ready for anything to happen, but all her energy was wasted. Nothing had happened, nothing was happening and it seemed like nothing was even GOING to happen. She looked sideways at Conan, who was calmly putting on his shoes. She had a bad feeling about the entire ordeal, but she had nothing to prove or say, so she just let it be. Conan raised his eyebrows at her.

" What?" he asked.

She looked away.

" Nothing." She muttered.

--------------------------

Mitsuhiko and Ayumi watched the two of them. Mitsuhiko bit his lip. " Okay," Ayumi said, grinning. " This would be more than enough to break up their relationship. Or even change it and hook it up a notch."

" Yeah." Mitsuhiko said nervously.

" Get it there." Ayumi said, shoving him forward.

" " But---," he said.

" Please?" Ayumi pleaded.

He blushed and looked away.

" Okay." He said.

He looked at Haibara.

He took in a deep breath and walked forward.

" There's Mitsuhiko right there." Haibara said.

" He looks nervous." Conan said, raising his eyebrows.

" Something bad has happened." She said seriously.

" Ask him." Conan said.

" Hey Mitsuhiko," Haibara said, frowning. " What---,"

But she was cut off with his hand cupping her cheek, his lips pressing hard against hers.

END OF CHAPTER 7

Well, how was that going? I just saw ' Soul Plane' and it is hilarious!!! But it can't reach up to the best movies of all time, because Snoop Dog can sing but Hell can't he act. But whatever. It's still a good movie, ain't it? Alright, next is chapter 8. Things are beginning to spice up and I might finally make something really happen between Haibara and Conan. Please read and review me!!!!


	8. Confession

Hey, time really passed fast for me these few days. But you all don't really care don't you? But whatever. Thank you for all of your wonderful reviews! I had some free time during the weekend and I am proud to say that I read EVERY SINGLE FANFICTION OF HAIBARA ON THE WEBSITE! Wow. I must be a really boring person, aren't I? Fantastic stories everywhere, I must say, anyway. Great work everybody! So. I'm done with the words almost nobody reads before my stories. Okay, I'm done. Here's chapter 8.

WARNING: Will not be as happy and jovial as my other chapters. But I promise there will be moments of humor here and there, and the next chapter will have DA BOMB, whatever the Hell that is. Sorry for the lack of humor in here, will have more in the next chapter.

CHAPTER 8

Haibara froze.

His lips were trembling and dry, no doubt he was asked or even forced by Ayumi to do this. But as his hands traveled down her slender figure to drift down to her thin waist, she suddenly was not so sure. After what seemed like forever but only lasted mere seconds, he pulled away.

Conan's hands raised up and flung back down stupidly. He couldn't believe what he just saw. The very thought of Mitsuhiko gaining the courage to walk up to Haibara and kissing almost brought him laughing to the ground. But there he was, and all Conan could do was to just stare at the sight.

Haibara unnecessarily licked her lips, which had become unnaturally dry all of a sudden. Mitsuhiko smiled at her shocked expression.

' I'm done.'

" I love you, Haibara-san."

Conan opened his mouth, but snapped it shut once more. He had half the mind to just get up and strangle Mitsuhiko, beat him up until even his own mother wouldn't recognize it, and yell at Ayumi for making him do this. But there was sincerity in his eyes, and Conan was forced to just stand there and gape. Mitsuhiko was not all that good of an actor, and he had his doubts. Did he really love Haibara? Didn't Ayumi just ask him to come here to make him jealous?

If he was acting, then he was doing a pretty darn good job.

Haibara bit her lip, the unnecessary tension building up in the atmosphere was almost suffocating. Her eyes randomly moved from Mitsuhiko's hopeful face to Conan's of pure anger and jealously. Jealousy? Was he? No. That couldn't be it. She must have been imaginating things.

The usual smile filled up on her face, half of it with happiness, the other with pity and regret. " I'm sorry Mitsuhiko." She said.

" But I love Conan."

Ayumi's eyes widened.

She-she what?

Mitsuhiko's eyes widened before looking away, biting his lip.

" Really?" he whispered under his breath. Not a question, but just a mere statement. A mere thought. A mere sentence.

Haibara walked up to Conan.

She smiled.

He blinked, face reddening considerably.

Mitsuhiko saw this.

" Really." She said.

-

Ayumi, Mitsuhiko, Sumiko and Genta walked home together. Genta and Sumiko didn't say much, but just glanced uneasily at Ayumi and Mitsuhiko, seemingly the two brokenhearted people within the group. Ayumi just couldn't believe that Conan had gotten so angry just by that simple action by Mitsuhiko, leaving a burning hole of a question in her heart. ' Did Conan really love Haibara?' she asked herself. ' Does he really love her?'

Mitsuhiko bit his lip. He had been rejected. After al they had been through, after all those years of friendship and his secret love for her, he finally knew how she felt about him. It hurt him bad and deep to the core, but something saved him. The kiss. He licked his lips, remembering the tender taste of her lips, the softness of them just made him shiver at the thought.

Genta frowned at him.

" Oi, Mitsuhiko," he said uneasily.

" Yeah?"

Genta bit into the curry puff he was holding. " Do you love Haibara?"

Three heads turned in his direction.

They all stared from him to Mitsuhiko, whose face turned incredibly red all of a sudden. " Yeah." He said softly. " I do."

Silence.

" Oh." Genta said, continuing his pace.

The others walked on, and Ayumi looked sideways at Mitsuhiko.

A small smile filled her lips.

-

Conan and Haibara walked home in silence. Conan walked a few steps behind her, watching her back bob up and down. He rarely looked at her back; he usually just stayed in front while she tagged along behind the pack, in her own little world. He frowned. His mouth opened and shut, wanting to communicate with her just to make sure that things were okay between them, desperate to just listen or talk to her once more. The thing was that he didn't know how to start or end or talk about, and sure as Hell didn't feel like talking.

She stopped walking.

He blinked.

" What's on your mind, Kudo?" she asked, hands back in her pockets. He blinked. The two of them stood there in silence once more, Conan's eyes following a car that simply roared past the two of them.

" What do you mean?" he asked.

" You usually walk before me, not behind." She said pointedly.

Bingo. One point for the sharp lady.

He opened his mouth to speak, but unnaturally nothing came out.

She raised her eyebrows.

" You want to say that with more volume?" she asked.

He looked away, a thin blush appearing on his face. " Was what you told Mitsuhiko just an act? Or was it something-more?"

Haibara's eyes widened.

Conan looked back at her.

She mouth opened slightly, before smirking.

" Don't flatter yourself, Kudo." She said, continuing walking. But somehow, all of a sudden, she was not so sure.

-

" Done!" the professor said happily, slamming down the huge pile of notes onto the table, causing the computer to wobble unknowingly. Haibara looked up from her magazine, while Conan stopped kicking the ball against the wall. The professor was all of a sudden aware of the huge action he did, and sheepishly stopped the wobbling computer from shaking to and fro.

" Sorry." He said, blushing.

" No matter." Haibara said calmly. " What did you accomplish?"

He grinned, holding up the huge stack of papers he had in his hands once more. " As both of you know, it's going to be Christmas in a few days." He said, waiting for a reply, a nod, or even a grin in affirmation. The two of them just stared at him blankly, and his eyes widened.

" You didn't know?" he gasped.

" No, as a matter of fact, I didn't." Haibara said blatantly.

He gasped again.

" Oh quit it," Conan said irritatibly. " This isn't some courtroom drama."

The professor ignored him, and smiled at Haibara kindly. " Are you and Conan free on Christmas?" he asked. " I just ordered six tickets for the theme park just above the state. You could invite Ran and her parents if you want, I ordered the extra three just for them." He added, looking at Conan.

" No can do." Conan said, rubbing his chin. " The three of them were invited to some cruise by Sonoko. Apparently they were extremely hard to find. My parents were invited too, and so was Sonoko's boy-friend."

" Then," the professor said, fingering the three spare tickets in his hand. " Just invite that Hattori kid and Kazuya. I'm sure they would be glad to come along, and as for the extra, you could,"

" They can't." Conan said tonelessly. " They're going sightseeing with Heiji's dad. He just SMSed me a few days ago."

" Er," the professor said, rubbing his chin. " Then,"

The two of them raised their eyebrows at him.

" Oh Hell no." Conan groaned.

" What?" the professor protested. " I paid quite a lot for these tickets, and I'm not going to let them go to waste."

" But inviting the three of them is just plain stupid." Conan protested. " It's like inviting a wolf to a chicken's day out. There are tons of things that could happen to Haibara at the carnival, and I'm not going to let that happen." There was silence that followed that, and Conan blushed beet red. " A-Anyway," he stammered. " I'm sure that Haibara also does not feel right about going there, right Haibara?" he asked, turning around to face her.

She seemed to ponder for a moment, before smirking.

" I don't mind."

Conan's jaw dropped, while the professor let out a cry of success.

Conan just stared at her for an entire minute, surveying her expression, her face, and every single part of what she said, when he finally made a decision on what to say to her, which would involve cleverness and brilliance.

" What?" he asked, gaping at her.

" I don't mind." She repeated, getting back to her magazine.

" Splendid, Ai-kun." The professor said happily. " I'll go,"

" What do you mean you don't mind?" Conan yelled, cutting the professor's speech. " A twelve year old just kissed you!"

" It's just puppy love," she said simply, turning the page of her magazine. " He'll get over it."

" What about you?" he asked, surprised by her lack of care.

" I'll get over it too." She said.

" Haibara-" He growled tensely, and she flapped the book shut.

" They're going to be in a theme park." She said angrily, annoyed by his use of overly concern. " Kids do not plan to destroy another person's life in a theme park. They have fun, they eat, and they get tired and fall asleep. We have nothing to worry about. They're just children."

" Oh really?" Conan said sarcastically. " And Ayumi is counted as normal?"

" She's smart and cunning, yes," Haibara said. " But she's still a kid."

" Might as well invite them over for a sleepover then!" Conan yelled out, heart filled with unknown anger. " All kids love sleepovers! Next morning find yourself waking up in an eagle's nest on the mountain!"

" Maybe I should," Haibara yelled back. " After all, all I wanted was to spend time with some friends who I could ACTUALLY have a good time with!"

" You NEVER had friends anyway!" Conan yelled.

Haibara flinched, but regained her composure immediately.

" You know what your problem is, Kudo?" she whispered.

" No, but I'm sure you won't hold yourself back to tell me." He said.

" You're so wrapped up in your detective work and life that you forget one thing. People have minds, and people have hearts. Not everyone has to go exactly the same way that you expect them to be. How do you know that Ayumi cries herself to sleep every night because you ditched her? How do you know that Ayumi secretly does not want to hurt me? What if she wants to be my friend once more, but can't bring herself to admit it? She doesn't have to be full of hate, Kudo! Why can't you just relax for once? They're humans, Kudo! Not just some puppets tied up to string on a concert for a humorless audience!"

Conan paused for a moment.

The professor just stood there, hesitating, before tiptoeing away, locking himself silently into his room.

" I'm showing concern for you, Haibara." He said softly.

" Thank you." She said tonelessly. " But I'm not some worthless kid. I'm an adult. And since when did you start to care so much for me? Go back to your girl-friend Ran. I don't know why you moved here anyway."

" She's not my girl-friend." He said quietly.

" Oh?" she said mockingly. " And it's Sonoko now, no doubt? That's perfect for you, Kudo. You can get someone who's pretty AND rich at the same time."

" No she's not." He said, shaking with anger.

" Kazuya?" she went on, a smirk playing on her lips. " Better watch out, because she belongs to your best-friend you know."

" It's YOU, Goddamn it!' he yelled, and she stopped.

It took her an entire second for Haibara to realize what he had just said.

Her mouth opened and shut, and for once she was speechless.

" What?" she asked.

His face was beet red now, facing the girl who always had that mocking smile playing on her lips. But that was gone now, and what had replaced it was a look of shock, confusion, and for once, the softness and tenderness in her eyes.

He looked down.

There was no way back now.

Straight on ahead.

" I love you, Haibara." He whispered, allowing the silence to follow what he had just said.

END OF CHAPTER 8

Wow, major soap opera flick here. But whatever, I hope you all enjoyed it. I promised you all a moment for them right? But here's where all the emotion and stuff end, and I'll go back to the remaining few steps with more and MORE humor included. Since I'm here, I would like to take some time before I go straight onto the ninth chapter to just ask a favour from you all. Is it possible for you to tell me some other Detective Conan websites? I'm hoping to publish this to other websites also, so if you know any others, please tell me in e-mail or your review.

I hope to please everyone, so all those who wish for more mush, please tell me. But however, if you wish to go back straight to the humor, tell me.


	9. Splatters of the rain

Hey, looks like I took some time for this chapter to be posted didn't I? But it's longer than my other chapter, so I guess at least I pleased SOME PEOPLE. Ha ha. This story hopefully and go onto other websites; or at least that's what I'm hoping, under my name. Maybe I'll publish it under a different title name which is not so obvious. . The stuff in this chapter may anger or confuse you quite a lot, but hey, that's what my stories do right? (Sobs) BUT keep in mind what I say here. There will be a good ending. Hopefully a very good one.

Okay, enough yabbing.

Please read and review.

CHAPTER 9

" I love you."

These words pierced into her heart, shattering that cold exterior that's she always put on. Something inside her clicked on as she watched Conan, face blushing furiously, seemingly like he would like to do nothing better but to smash through the glass window and run out into the streets but refused to break eye contact with her. Was he-actually serious this time?

Or was he a much better actor that she thought?

" Kudo," she whispered, but was cut short by his arms wrapping around her, pressing her tightly against himself. She let a small gasp escape her lips, but shut her eyes softly. Was she allowed this? Was she allowed love from the heavens above? No. No she wasn't. No she wasn't at all.

Especially from the person whose life she destroyed.

Her eyes flickered open, lifting her hands up to press against Conan's chest, pushing him away gently. His eyes widened as he watched her step away from him, biting her lip. There was a strange vulnerability about Haibara at the moment. Was this her actual true side?

" I'm sorry." She said.

Two simple words. Yet it made such a huge impact.

He looked down, clenching his fists. So this was how Ran felt when he broke up with her on the phone. Numbness filled his body, a strange desire to break down and cry. He looked up, grinning at her. " It's okay." He said. " I was partly joking about it anyway."

That hurt.

Haibara could see through even Ayumi's brilliant fake laughter, it was no problem to see through Conan's. He was crying. Haibara smirked back. " I knew that." She lied. " I knew it." Conan grinned, and looked at his watch. " Hey, it's getting late. I'm going to go take a bath."

" You do that." She said.

He turned, walking to the toilet.

" Kudo." She stated, and he stopped to a halt.

" Yeah?" he asked, expectant and hopeful.

" We're still friends right?"

His eyes widened.

Then he smiled bitterly.

" Sure." He said. " Wake me up for school."

" I'll do that."

She watched him walk away, before disappearing through the door of the bathroom. She opened her mouth, but shut it once more.

" Hmph." She muttered, walking towards her room and shutting it.

Conan heard her.

He removed the glasses from his eyes.

And cried.

Let the rain fall.

-

The poster was still on her wall.

The pad of paper was still on her desk.

Ayumi looked at the two objects through the corner of her eyes, before letting them travel back to the other object in a clockwise direction. The poster was of her dearest Conan, grinning at her, a smile that she had never saw him wear in front of her for a long time now. The other was the pad of paper, which had eight horrible things that she had already made Haibara suffer, and just two more would make a bang on the list to make Haibara gone from school.

At least she hoped.

She walked over slowly, picking up the pad of paper. She was running out of ideas. Well to be factual, she had over a hundred of tactics she could use on any ordinary school girl, but none of them seemed suitable for Haibara. Ayumi bit her lip and frowned. What were the few things that Haibara actually liked? She rubbed her chin. Come to think of it, Haibara had never shown any interest in anything at all, unless you counted smiling at or commenting at something of interest. Ayumi groaned and dropped the pad, looking up at the wall.

' Rain washes away my pain.'

She sat up, turning around. Nothing. She blinked. That sounded distinctly like Haibara's voice, but she had no idea where that came from. She bit her lip and shut her eyes. Ran? There was rain at the place where-Her eyes flickered open. So-was THAT it?

FLASHBACK

It was a few months ago when the detective boys had another campout rather far away from their city, when the professor had taken them all out during the long holidays. They had set camp not far away from a large tree, and the four of them all went out to go check it out. Haibara and the professor had stayed back inside the tent, laying out the tools. Ayumi remembered looking at the tent every so often, watching Haibara help the clumsy professor with his work.

" What's wrong, Ayumi?" she heard Conan say to her, his arms in his pockets as the other two 'wow-ed' and 'oo-ed' at the huge tree. Ayumi shook her head, smiling. Then her smile faded as she looked at Haibara once more. " Co-chan?" she asked, and Conan flinched slightly at the name.

" Yeah?"

" Is Haibara a freak?"

Conan's twitched, his head darting to her, eyes wide. " What?" he asked.

" I-I didn't mean it that way!" she exclaimed, laughing it off, meeting with Conan's raised eyebrows. " It's just that-it seems like she's trapped in someone else's body-trapped in a pit she can't climb out of-and within a group which she can't-escape from." She finished, biting her lip.

Conan frowned at her for a moment before smiling. " Dumbass." He said, and she looked up at him. " She's merely more mature than all of us. There's just a small part of her that tries to hide her excitement, but when you look at her closely, you can see true happiness inside. And the same's for sadness."

" Sadness?" Ayumi asked.

" Ah." He answered. " I woke up one night and found her crying in the living room, a picture of her dead sister in her hands. When I called her name, the tears disappeared, and that cool mask of hers returned back to her face. She tries to be strong, but she cries deep inside."

There was silence that followed this, and a appeared on his face, and Ayumi's eyes narrowed. " You're in love with her, aren't you?" she asked, and his blush increased, and his mouth opened and shut. " You're in love with someone else other than me?" she went on, the fake tears balling up in her eyes.

" Oi, oi," Conan muttered, sweat filling his face as Genta noticed the crying Ayumi, and walked over, cracking his knuckles.

He hung his head. " I don't. I love-you."

Ayumi stopped crying immediately, and flung her hands around him, laughing. " I knew that." She said, " I just wanted to see you flustered, that's all." And she placed a kiss on his cheek and walked off. He rubbed his cheek, sighing. Haibara walked over, smirking. What she said to Conan Ayumi didn't know, but soon after Conan walked away with Genta and Mitsuhiko, and Haibara just stood there.

Ayumi frowned.

She seemed so-

Alone.

-

It was midnight when Ayumi woke up, finding herself in alone in the girls' tent. Haibara was missing. She rubbed her tired eyes, and opened the tent flap, only to find out that it was rain. The wet rain splattered on her face, and she looked outwards, and her eyes widened. There was Haibara, standing in her pajamas, her head bowed, looking down at the ground.

Ayumi ran out with an umbrella, stepping hurriedly into her shoes and walked up until she was just behind Haibara. Haibara seemed to notice her presence, but didn't say anything. Ayumi gulped. " It's wet and cold out here, Haibara." Ayumi said, looking at her worriedly. " You're going to catch a cold if you keep standing here. Come on, get into the tent and I'll make you a cup of tea."

There was no answer.

" Haiba,"

" I won't go in for some time." She heard Haibara whisper.

Silence, except for the splattering of rain onto Ayumi's umbrella. Ayumi looked up at the sky through the see-through umbrella, thinking. " Do you like the rain?" she asked softly.

Haibara didn't answer, until a huge clap of thunder sounded the sky.

" Don't you?" Haibara asked.

Ayumi didn't answer to that, and just when she was about to reply, she heard Haibara's voice, much more bitter and cold that ever.

" I like the rain." She said, her head lifting up from the ground, and Ayumi's eyes widened to see her crying. Was she crying? Ayumi wasn't sure. But tears and rain had a very different kind of look, but in the darkness, Ayumi couldn't really tell. " Whenever I feel sad or alone, I would walk out of wherever I am and just step into the rain, even for just a little while, to feel it clean me, to wash away the dirt or pain that I hold inside my heart."

Ayumi gulped.

" Rain washes away my pain." She whispered. " It cleans my heart."

END OF FLASHBACK

It washes away her pain?

The thought flashed in her mind of herself, crying herself to sleep at the thought of Haibara and Conan together, but just smiled at them the next day, acting like nothing had happened.

Hmm.

Looks like she and Haibara weren't' so unalike after all.

-

Conan was bored.

Not just bored.

Not just bored of being bored, but was bored of being bored about being bored, and was bored until he started counting how many 'bored's he could put into one sentence. Like for one example, he was hated being bored or being bored, because being bored was boring, thus making bored boring and being boringly bored was just making a bored person boringly bored out of recognition.

" Bored?" Haibara asked, smirking.

He got up, blushing furiously.

Then he smirked. " Yeah."

Somehow, the whole confession didn't' seem to do anything to her character. She still said sarcastic comments and quips to him and didn't seem to care about the whole ' I love you' thing at all. Damn. He remembered that he had cried himself to sleep last night, and his eyes were all swollen and baggy the next day, and made the excuse to the professor that he just lacked sleep due to reading a new detective book, that's all. But the way Haibara looked at him, he knew that she knew. But did she know that he knew she knew? He didn't know.

She grinned at him, and tossed a piece of paper at him, in which he caught. He raised his eyebrows at her.

" Solve it." She said. " Hopefully."

He watched her leave before looking at it.

(444) (555)(666)(888)(33) (999)(666)(88) (8)(666)(666)

He raised his eyebrows.

Weird.

-

" Huh? An escape theme park? Cool!"

" I'm in!"

" Me too!"

" Okay." Haibara said, smiling. Mitsuhiko looked embarrassingly at her, but she just smiled. He smiled back. Ayumi grinned at Conan. " Isn't it great, Co-chan? We can all go to the themepark tomorrow,"

But she stopped in mid sentence, noticing that Conan was not paying an inch of attention to her, and she raised her eyebrows. The five of them had met in the professor's house, as school had just ended on holiday a few days before. Conan bit his lip, scribbling on the piece of paper that Haibara had written the code in, rubbing chin as he continued on.

He bit his lip. Haibara. What sort of code would she do? He had tried to look on the numbers of the various things she did, but to no avail. It could have been letters, but there was no use to what they signified. ' A? E? I? O? U? Could there be some alphabetical code to this? What was it?

" Co-chan!" Ayumi called again, and he snapped to attention.

" What?" he asked.

She opened her mouth to say something, when suddenly the idea came to her. Her smile broadened, and shut it. " Nothing." She said. " Nothing at all."

Haibara saw that smile.

She frowned.

-

It was gone.

It was gone.

IT WAS GONE!

Haibara looked around frantically, but could not find it anywhere. There were almost tears in her eyes as she slammed her drawer shut, biting her lip to prevent the tears from leaking out. The only sole last picture of her sister was gone. It had vanished. It was Ayumi. She bloody knew it. Ayumi must have taken it. At the moment, all Haibara wanted to do was strangle that little misery dead for taking the picture but suddenly it occurred to her that Ayumi most likely had-

Ripped it up.

The tears flowed down from her face, salt fixing with saliva as she cried her heart out, falling to the ground. The tiny creak in the door from the room which Haibara stayed alone stood someone. Ayumi. She heard her. Conan raised his eyebrows. " What's wrong, Ayumi?" he asked, coming over.

Ayumi shook her head and walked away.

" Nothing." She said, the photo securely in her pocket.

-

Haibara glared at everything as she slammed the door shut of her room, all the way from Ayumi to the flowerpot near the sink.

" H-Haibara." Conan whimpered.

She gave him a glare that would have killed an elephant twenty miles away. But Conan, being used to this, only received a hard blow and ran away as fast as she could. Ayumi smiled at her, walking up. " What's wrong, Haibara?" she asked. Haibara glared at her grinning figure, her fists clenched.

Then she walked away, her voice ever so sad and downtrodden.

" Nothing." She said quietly.

Ayumi noticed this.

She blinked.

The professor, blur but smart, would have given money to Conan for them to takeout before dashing into his room to avoid an angry Haibara on rampage. But this time he didn't. This was a different kind of anger, more like a small detest of defeat, and more like something he never saw Haibara have before.

" What's wrong, Ai?" he asked softly.

Haibara wanted to tell him.

Damn did she want to tell him.

But she shook her head.

" Nothing." She said again bitterly. " Nothing at all."

Ayumi, once again, noticed this. Her fingers felt upon the picture. Was this picture really that important? She looked at Haibara, who had all of a sudden seemed more sullen and quiet that usual. She bit her lip, before smirking.

" Okay." She whispered to herself.

-

" Alright, see you tomorrow!"

" Bye, Co-chan!" ( Author's note: Three guess who this was. One hint for you people who don't know my story enough. It's definitely not Genta. Hmm-could it possibly be-Mitsuhiko?)

" Later!"

Conan smiled at them as he shut the door. Haibara sighed and watched them leave. Conan raised his eyebrows at her. " What's wrong?" he asked. She was about to answer the same answer thrice today, but she merely shook her head, and headed for her bedroom.

" Yo, Haibara." Conan called out, and she turned around.

He blinked.

" What's the meaning of the code, anyway?"

Her eyes widened.

Then she smirked.

" I'll explain tomorrow." She whispered, before disappearing into her room.

She shut the door behind her and switched on the light; ready to cry herself once more to sleep when she noticed something.

The picture of her sister on her bed.

She picked it up, bewildered.

Then she smirked, looking at the picture of her, Conan and the Detective Boys.

" I guess I'll forgive you just this once," she said, smiling softly. " Ayumi-chan."

END OF CHAPTER 9

All right everybody! The final chapter will be one of my favourite numbers, number 10! Are you all ready for the big wave? There I will answer some of the biggest questions of all! An unknown surprise character shows up! The answer to Haibara's code! (I made it up actually-Hehehe,) The end of all the wars! The final scene of Conan and Haibara! Are you all ready? Please read and review me! I will post it up as soon as I can!

P.S. Maybe I would just answer a question before anyone asks. I just wanted Haibara to call Ayumi a 'chan' for special reasons. As I said, there WILL be a happy endin.g Enough said. Please look foward to the tenth chapter!


	10. Aftermath

Alright, this is the final chapter. Farewell everybody! I'm thinking of making a sequel, as I already have the plot in mind. I'll just have to get down on it some day, I guess. In the meantime, I guess I'll just cruise around, looking for inspirations, finishing old stories and writing new ones. I wanted to write down every reviewer's name in here at first, but there was a possibility of me having new reviewers in the last chapter, so I just let it be. (Hey, I love that song. By the Beatles, right?)

Crap, my code sucked, almost everyone who read my chapter knew what it was. But I made it myself, so you know why it's so bad. (Starts to cry) But whatever.

There are a lot of people on this website that I admire, but the list was so long I could only cut it short or else it would have wasted such a terribly good amount of space. PyroKid, anime-obsession260, SN 1987A, LaDyPaRaNoiD, Seraphim Wings . . .The list just keeps going on.

CHAPTER 10 (FINALE) DOUBLE SPECIAL!

" Wow! Look at that!"

" Candy floss! I want candy floss!"

" Hey! The roller coaster ride!"

Conan sighed as he watched the three of them fan out (S umiko couldn't come, she was going somewhere with her parents.), leaving the poor professor running after them, huffing and puffing at the extra need of exercise. He remembered being this crazy over the rides, the candyfloss, and even that weird Barney figurine that Ayumi was pointing at. But he was almost a full grown adult now, and it just made him want to bang his head against something extremely hard. Haibara saw him and smirking. " What's wrong, Kudo?" she asked. " All of a sudden you don't feel like reminiscing anymore?"

" Dumbass." Conan said. " I've been here for over a million times straight, and I have to say I'm sick of this place."

Haibara shrugged, grinning. " Oh well, it's be fun, anyway. Come to think of it, I never really got to appreciate the full excitement of the theme park since I was young. I guess I'll try to have fun now."

" Speaking of which," Conan said, raising his eyebrows at Ayumi ahead, who was hugging the Barney figurine that the professor had gotten her. " What kind of tricks do you think she could do to you here? Come up with strategies fast! I know you don't like to ploy against a girl much younger than you, but if you don't use your full capabilities yet, she'll do something!"

Silence.

" Bad!" he went on.

" Okay then," she said sarcastically. Then her face softened as she watched Ayumi laugh, holding Mitsuhiko's hand, dragging him towards the bumper cars. The smile was real. No fake lines twitching on her cheeks. A sincere smile. " But I don't think there will be any happenings today."

Conan raised his eyebrows.

" What?" he asked.

" And besides," she said, hands in pockets. " Have you cracked the code yet?"

" Not yet." He mumbled. " But I will."

She smiled.

" I really hope so. Nice bag, by the way."

" Thanks." He grinned.

" Co-chan!" Ayumi called out. " Haibara-san!"

Haibara smiled as Conan sighed.

" Coming." They said, walking over to them.

-

Soon it was time for dinner, and the six of them plopped down into the restaurant just below the huge tower. " That was fun!" Genta exclaimed cleverly, rubbing his sore behind. Mitsuhiko laughed, remembering that he was the main cause of Genta's pain, where he rammed the bumper car right into the back seat of Genta's car for more than 10 times straight. Haibara looked at her watch.

" It's almost seven." She said quietly. " The fireworks start at ten."

" Yeah." Ayumi agreed, waving her hand furiously in the air to get the waitress's attention. " We'd better hurry up and finish our food so we can go on some more rides before it starts—ah, yes. I would like the bento special."

" And that would be?" the waitress asked.

" Meal number five." She answered promptly.

" Same for me." Mitsuhiko said.

" Me too." The professor said, licking his chops.

" I'll have the unagi don." Genta said, grinning at the menu. " With tempura and takoyaki on the side."

" As scary as ever," Conan muttered, and Haibara smiled.

" I'll have Meal number four," Conan mumbled. " Tempura udon."

" Same here, I guess." Haibara said.

The waitress smiled and turned around, walking away.

The professor yawned, rubbing his eyes.

" Tired already?" Genta asked mockingly.

" No." the professor said, dabbing his face with the towel. Haibara raised her eyebrows at him for a moment before sighing. " Whatever." She sighed, stepping off her chair. " I'm going to the washroom."

Haibara had already disappeared through the doors of the ladies when Ayumi too hopped off her chair. " Me too." She said.

' Damn!'

" Er-me too," Conan said. Then he stopped, realizing how bad this looked for him. Genta and Mitsuhiko were looking at him with raised eyebrows, and he turned around, grinning sheepishly. " Er-hehe?" he laughed off.

" You're sick, Conan." Mitsuhiko said.

" Sick." Genta repeated.

" No, it's not what you think," Conan said, but it was all in vain, Mitsuhiko and Genta almost pouncing on his with questions, talking extremely weird things like 'taking away the hottest girl in school was not enough, and instead had to take away Ayumi too,' and ' Trying to be a pimp.' And some weird stuff about a red-haired guy called Archie Andrews.

Ayumi sneaked away, walking into the washroom. Haibara had her back turned, facing the towels, but Ayumi sensed that Haibara knew she was there. Haibara blinked, not turning around. " Hello, Ayumi." She said tonelessly. Ayumi said nothing but softly shut the door behind her.

" Do you really love Conan?" Ayumi asked.

Haibara paused for a moment.

" What?" she asked.

" I mean, sure, you act like you love him." Ayumi went on, hands in her pockets. " But you could have won an Academy Award if you wanted to. But there's a certain gap between you and him, and I just find that suspicious."

Haibara turned around, wiping her wet hands.

" So what if I wasn't?" she asked.

Ayumi bit her lip.

FLASHBACK

" Are you in love with Conan?" she remembered asking.

The rain splattered on their clothes.

Haibara had turned around.

END OF FLASHBACK

" Then," Ayumi said, blushing. " Then I would be in trouble."

A huge amount of her wished Haibara would agree that there was nothing between her and Conan, that it was all just an act and a lie, like she suspected. Haibara turned away. " I'm sorry." Haibara said.

" But I love him."

Time stopped right there and then as Ayumi just stared at Haibara's back, an unknown tear falling down from her eye. " You," she stuttered. " You love him."

Haibara didn't answer.

" But you can't love him." Ayumi persisted. " You promised to me last time."

" That was years ago." Haibara said. " Now is the present."

Ayumi didn't say anything, her mouth opening and shut stupidly.

Haibara didn't turn around for some time, but when she finally did, she noticed that Ayumi was gone. Haibara nodded softly. " Yeah." She said, wrenching the door open. " Yeah."

-

" Egoistical dog!"

" Concubine!"

" Cheat!"

" Scam!"

Conan sighed as the name-calling continued, biting into his tempura, slurping up the soup. He noticed Haibara sit down beside him and he blinked. " Where's Ayumi?" he asked. Haibara just looked at him before getting down to her noodles. Conan's head whipped to the dark crowd. " She must have ran through the back door." Haibara said matter-of-factly. Haibara watched Mitsuhiko through the corner of her eye, watching him look at the door and her many times.

Then he nodded confidently to himself.

" I'm going to look for her!" he called out.

" Me too!" Genta said, but was stopped by Haibara.

" No." she said, smiling softly. " Let him go alone. Besides-won't you be able to eat your meal AND his AND Ayumi's this way?"

It was amazing how his worried frown turned into a splitting grin.

" You're good." Conan said to Haibara as Genta chomped his way through.

" It's gift," she replied.

-

Mitsuhiko found her, rubbing her eyes in a dark alley just behind the restaurant. The scene looked so familiar that it scared him. It was like when he got rejected by Haibara, how he felt, and what he did. Just locked himself up in a room or a place and just let the tears fall

" Hey." He said, sitting beside her. She flinched, but didn't move away. " Looks like you got rejected by Conan finally huh?" he asked, almost to himself, but Ayumi's trembling body was the answer to him. He smiled sadly and nodded. " I know how that feels." He said. Ayumi looked up.

" When Haibara said to me she loved Conan," he said. " My heart almost broke into two. It was terrible. It was worst than being punched in the stomach by Genta after you steal his lunch."

" You stole his lunch?" Ayumi gasped.

" Yeah." He said. " A dare."

Silence.

Then the two of them started to laugh. They laughed so hard that tears started to run down their eyes. Two cleaners just inside the kitchen heard them, both shivering with fright. " So the rumors are true," one said to the other, crouching low. " Yeah." The other one said, trembling. " The crying and the laughing ghosts are finally back to haunt us again," It was only that when the two ladies burst into tears.

Ayumi wiped her eyes, Mitsuhiko smiling at her. " You're beautiful when you laugh." He said. She blushed and smiled back.

" Thanks."

There was silence for a moment.

" Do you think we'll ever get over them?" he asked her.

She looked at him from the corner of her eye before smiling. " I think I already have." She whispered, her hand softly touching his. He blushed, looking at her. Then he grinned, face as red as the sun.

" Yeah," he replied. " Me too."

-

Mitsuhiko and Ayumi returned, smiles on their faces. " Hey." Mitsuhiko said to them. The others looked up at them and grinned. " Yeah." The professor said. " We should go soon, there's almost no more time left. It's still only eight, but I think we should just get it going before the tram ride starts."

" I think it would be a better idea to go to the ferris wheel." The waitress said, smiling broadly at them. " It's more relaxing after a large meal."

The others agreed, and everyone but Haibara and Ayumi were left on the empty table. Haibara looked up at her, but was shocked to find a smiling Ayumi. " I'm okay." She said. " I can live without Conan. Mitsuhiko's been really nice to me, and I'll guess I'll try to go out with someone else for a change. You can have him if you want." Haibara's eyes widened with astonishment.

Then she smiled.

" How kind of you." She said, turning her back to Ayumi.

" So are you two really together?"

Haibara turned around, facing Ayumi's accusing and nonchalant expression. But there was nothing else. She didn't seem to want to have that against her. But Haibara just nodded. " Yeah. We are." She said.

Ayumi frowned at her as she watched Haibara leave.

" Dumbass." She muttered under her breath. " Looks like you're not that good of an actor after all."

-

The three just stared at Genta.

" What?" he asked.

But that was almost like an understatement, whatever it was. They had brought Genta to an eating competition, in which they would win two tickets to the Ferris wheel if he won any other two competitors. But there was nobody else who dared to go up to Genta, so the owner just said that if Genta could eat more than five bowls of whatever food he gave him, he would give the tickets to him.

Five bowls.

Yeah.

All in all, Genta ate two hamburgers, a hot dog, three bags of potato chips, five mint sweets, a chocolate bar, three bowls of ramen, two slices of eel, two cups of ice-cream, a banana, half a durian, two ice mangos, a sundae, two extra large cups of lemonade and a whole bowl of tempura.

The owner realized his mouth was still hanging open, and immediately shut it. " Er," he said cleverly. " You win. Now if all of you would put your names in the bowl, I would choose two names out of the pile, and I would get two names out, and those two would be the two who get to go on."

" Huh?" the professor said. " Why can't we just choose ourselves?"

" I don't know." The owner said, shrugging. " It's just a rule I guess."

" That's dumb!" Genta said. " Why can't I just go on?"

" In your current condition, you'll either throw up or be mistaken of a pregnant lady and would not be allowed up there. And besides, won't that be more fun and relaxing?" The professor looked helplessly at the three outraged kids.

" Whatever." Conan said.

" Indeed it sounds interesting." Haibara said, flipping the pages of her magazine.

Mitsuhiko and Ayumi looked at each other.

" Fine." Ayumi said.

" Same here." Mitsuhiko said.

" Fantastic." The owner said. " Now if you would all just put your names on these slips of paper,"

Conan raised his eyebrows.

" What?" Haibara asked.

" Nothing." He said, looking away.

-

The owner crumpled the pieces of paper and split them into two bundles, three in each hand of his, and dropped both plies into two separate bowls. They all looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Conan blinked as he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket, and pulled it out. Haibara looked over his shoulder. " Who was it?" she asked, as he opened the message.

" It's Heiji." He said. " He says Merry Christmas."

" Say it back." She said, shrugging. " It's rude not to."

" Right." He said, and typed steadily back. He was halfway through the message when he noticed Haibara's eyes boring through his back, staring at the way he typed. He stopped and she looked up at him to meet his gaze. He blushed but shook himself together. " What's wrong?" he asked. " Why are you looking at my message in such a-er-weird way?"

" You use dictionary for your keypad type." She said quietly.

" What?'

" You use dictionary."

" Oh? Oh yeah. I find it easier to type."

She smirked.

" No wonder you couldn't solve my riddle." She muttered.

" What?" he asked.

" Nothing," she said offhandly. " Nothing."

" Ah," the owner said. " It's-Conan and Haibara."

They all looked at the two of them, and Haibara just looked at Conan. Conan blinked. Then he got it. " Oh." He said, grinning. " I guess,"

" No fair!" Genta exclaimed. " Why do they get to go on? I ate all the food!"

" And that's bad WHY?" Mitsuhiko asked sarcastically.

Ayumi turned around and smiled at Conan and Haibara. " Okay then," she said, grinning. " I guess it's you two."

Haibara's eyes widened.

She smiled back.

" Yeah." She said. " Thanks."

Conan raised his eyebrows and leaned towards Haibara. " Oi, Haibara. You don't think she could be plotting this, do you?" he whispered.

Haibara caught a glimpse of Ayumi.

" No." she said softly. " I don't think so."

The owner was grinning from ear to ear, opening the door to one of the carriages while Haibara hopped in, sitting down on one of the seats. Conan, blushing, went right in and sat down opposite of her. The owner slammed the door shut and locked it from the front. " Have a good time!" he said, smiling.

" Thanks." Conan said.

Ayumi smiled as she watched them go higher and higher.

" Have a nice ride," she whispered, her hand softly unscrewing the emergency hold button on the ride. " Co-chan."

The owner saw this.

He just grinned.

The ride had went all the way up to the top, when Ayumi slammed the emergency button shut, and the ride halted in mid air. Haibara gasped as she jolted forward, falling in Conan's arms. Conan yanked open the window, looking down. " Hey!" he yelled. " What's wrong?"

" Sorry!" the owner yelled back. " But the emergency brake's been yanked out! I'll have to wait until some people have to come and repair it to come back up here!"

Silence.

" What?" Conan yelled. " I can't hear you!"

" I'll SMS you then!" the owner yelled back.

" You'll what-a-what me?"

" SMS!"

" Eminem has what?"

" What? M M what?"

" What?"

" Hold on!"

The professor handed the owner a phone, and the owner furiously typed in the message and sent it to Conan's phone. Conan with raised eyebrows, opened it. After reading it, he sighed and sank down into his seat. Haibara dusted herself. " What did he say?" she asked.

" We'll have to stay here for a while." Conan said, sighing.

Downstairs, Ayumi smiled.

" Now it's all up to you two now," Ayumi whispered. " Conan and Ai-chan."

" But are you really okay with this?" Genta asked. " You wanted to destroy her life, not bring her closer to Conan! Plus, the ten-step is not done yet!"

Ayumi thought for a while, and nodded.

" Nine steps of hate. Why not let the final step help them out?" She grinned and leaned against the pillar. " Now it's all up to them."

" Mmm," Mitsuhiko said.

-

Haibara yawned.

It was about an hour already, and still there was nobody to help them. The professor and the others had long gone away to play with their games already. Conan watched her from the top of his book, before groaning and snapping the book shut. " I guess I'd better just stop wasting time." He said, dropping it beside him. Haibara raised her eyebrows at him.

" What was that again?" she asked.

He smiled at her and reached into the bag he was carrying and dropped a box onto her lap. " Merry Christmas." He said, grinning. " What you always wanted." Her eyes widened as she looked at from the box to him, her hands shivering as she opened the box, and almost dropped it in shock and excitement. It was the dress. The dress that she and him had an agreement. She knew that she had said to him that he would have to give it to her in the end, but she never expected to-

" Oh my God, Kudo," she whispered, her hands softly threading through the delicate fabric. He let a soft grin escape through his lips watching her. She was just so beautiful when she smiled.

So damn beautiful.

" Thank you, K,"

" Call me Shinichi." He said, raising a hand to cut into her sentence. " Kudo Shinichi."

She grinned.

" Very well," she said, closing the box cover. " Thank you. Shinichi."

-

The owner looked at his watch and sighed.

" What bloody late bloomers." He muttered, typing a message to Shinichi's phone. " Wouldn't you just hurry up and get over it? I'm getting cold."

Conan and Haibara just sat there for a moment, and Conan raised his eyebrows at her. " Don't you have a Christmas present for me too?" he asked jokingly.

Just as she was about to reply, she heard the buzz of his handphone. Irritatibly, he looked at the message. " He says the rescue squad will be here soon. And it's almost ten now. Thanks a lot."

She smirked.

Conan typed back to the owner a reply, when he noticed something. The numbers on the pad were arranged with numbers, and with three letters, a number was in its place. (-) A number-

His eyes flicked open.

Haibara watched him.

(444) would use three times of (4). The first 4 would be (G). The second would be (H). The third would be (I). So the first letter was I. He typed on furiously, and Haibara just watched him, smiling.

' I knew you would get it, Kudo-kun.'

His eyes widened as he saw it, and he looked up at Haibara.

" Haibara," he whispered.

I LOVE YOU TOO. (444) (555)(666)(888)(33) (999)(666)(88) (8)(666)(666)

He was about to say something when he heard the soft thud of the box he gave her on the floor, her arms wrapped around his neck, her soft lips pressed against his. His eyes widened at the foreign tastes when a small smile appeared on his lips and he kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her tight waist.

His tongue prodded at her lips, and she moaned and gratefully granted success, opening her lips just wide enough for his tongue to slither into. His hands left her waist, one raising up to run through her soft hair, the other dropping down to gently caress her thigh. She whimpered soundly, feeling him pull her closer towards him, rocking her soundly.

The feeling was indescribable. She had kissed before, yes, but this was different. This was love. It was such a delicate and beautiful word, a word totally not suitable for a traitor or a murderer like her, but as she was held in Conan's arms, it just filled her with warmth and happiness at the word. After what seemed like forever, she pulled away, licked her wet lips, savoring the taste.

He just stared at her.

" Hai?"

The bonfires behind Haibara shot up into the sky, beatifically filling the sky.,

Haibara smiled at him.

" Merry Christmas, Kudo Shinichi."

His eyes widened.

Then, blushing, he grinned.

" Yeah. Merry Christmas."

" Hello!" came a bright voice from the carriage door, and they both jumped. It was the owner. He pulled open the door. " Okay, I'll let you down from here. Now if you would just hold onto me, everything will be alright."

Haibara was about to follow when she felt Conan grab her hand.

She turned, confused.

" Nice going, Kaito." Conan said, smirking.

The owner raised his eyebrows.

" What?" he asked.

" It was rather smart of you that you were almost everywhere me and Haibara went." Conan said, winking at a shocked Haibara. The owner flinched. " It surprised me when Sumiko didn't come at all for the last few times, or didn't act most of the time. YOU were Sumiko. That was how you knew what most of the things were going on. You were also the owner downstairs. Haibara and my names were one three sheets on each of your hands already. All you had to do were to swap the six sheets on your hands with the six sheets they gave you, and it would be definite for the two of us to get up there. But the thing is why. Am I not right? KID?"

The owner smirked and ripped off his mask, grinning at them as he sat by the door of the carriage in the air.

Haibara's eyes widened.

" YOU were the waiter who told me about him!"

" Bingo." He said. " It was also me who returned your clothes for you. Ayumi and I sneaked in when you left, and when I finally got out of Ayumi's attention because of Mitsuhiko's suspicious movements, I stole it back."

Haibara smirked.

" Nicely done."

" Thank you," Kaito said, bowing.

Conan raised his eyebrows at Kaito.

" Don't tell me-the empty theatre-you were the ticket lady?"

" Yeah." He said, grinning. " I told the other people all the tickets were sold out."

" And you were also the waitress who asked us to go to the Ferris wheel."

" Excellent." Kaito said, ready to fly off.

" But why do all that?" Conan asked, and he stopped.

He turned around.

Then he smirked, winking at Haibara.

" I think we all know the answer to that, don't we?" He bent low and flew off into the night, smiling softly. " Merry Christmas, Detective-san."

Haibara and Conan looked at each other.

They both shrugged.

EPOLIGUE ( TWO MONTHS LATER)

" Nice dress, Haibara." Genta and Mitsuhiko said, blushing.

She smiled and nodded; grinning at Conan who was looking away, face red. " Aren't you going to say anything about it?" she asked. He raised his eyebrows and coughed unnecessarily. " It was me who bought it for you." He said. " And I didn't even get a bloody thing back in return."

" As a matter of fact I did." She said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a present, dropping it on Conan's lap.

Conan just stared at it.

Ayumi peered over. " What is it?" she asked.

Haibara smiled and said nothing, watching Conan open it.

" It's a Charlie Chaplin movie! Haibara!" he gasped, slamming it on the table, grabbing Haibara into his arms into a huge bear hug. " Ack!" Haibara yelled. " Can't breathe! Air!"

He let her go, grinning from ear to ear.

" But what's so good about this anyway?" Ayumi asked with raised eyebrows, picking it up.

Conan snatched it away from her, offended.

" Isn't that Hitler?" Mitsuhiko asked.

" It's Charlie Chaplin!" Conan yelled.

" Charlie whatlin?" Genta asked.

" Why is it in black and white?" Sumiko asked.

The professor and Haibara hid their laughs behind their towels.

" I will have you know that Charlie Chaplin was a breakthrough and still one of the most famous shows even after sound came into movies." Conan ranted on angrily at the lack of interest of his friends. " There were over ten new movies that appeared into the theatre,"

" At the sixth running of Charlie Chaplin's newest movie, and he still trashed all of them flat, even with a movie with no sound and was still black and white." Came someone's voice from the back.

Kudo Shinichi.

" Ka!" Conan gasped, but Kaito clamped his hand over Conan's mouth. " Shh." He said, grinning. " Your dark-skinned friend and professor asked me to come over to pose as you, as they were afraid you would hurt your ex-girl-friend's feelings."

Conan glanced at Heiji and the professor who gave them thumbs-up signs.

He smirked.

" Thanks anyway." He said. " I guess I won't call the cops on you just for once."

" Too kind." Kaito said, smiling. He grinned at Haibara. " Nice dress." He said.

" Too kind." Haibara said, mimicking him perfectly.

He grinned and walked off to greet Heiji.

" Hello everybody!" yelled Sonoko into the microphone. " Please welcome-Ran and Yorokobi!"

Ran looked beautiful as she walked in with her new husband, blushing as he gave her a kiss, but beamed anyway. Kaito waved at her and she brightened up, yanking at her husband's shirt, pointing at him. Conan gave a small smile. Strange. He never believed he would ever let someone else other than him to marry Ran. He laughed as Kogoro brought over Yorokobi to a side, his face dark, ready to give him the ' father' talk. There was no need.

The guy seemed nice.

He looked over at Haibara, and leaned over and kissed her lightly on the cheek.

She blushed and looked at him in surprise.

" What was that for?" she asked.

" Nothing," he said, grinning. " I love you, that's all."

Fort once, no sarcastic remark escaped her lips.

" I love you too."

Conan lifted the glass of water to his lips.

It was true the war between them and Ayumi had ended.

The aftermath was simple. No deaths or guns, or the signing of a treaty. Just the remains of a past torn friendship lasted. And as he watched Kogoro walk up the stage to make his speech, he laughed along with the rest.

He slid his hand into Haibara's.

She didn't flinch.

And there his hand stayed.

Not all wars had to end in tears and pain after all.

END OF STORY

Did you all enjoy the story from the beginning to the end? I hope you all did! Now that you're all happy and satisfied, please take my poll kindly, and I will be very happy if you all go to my author's profile page and click on the website. Please take the time to vote, I would appreciate it so very much. Hopefully some people will vote for Ayumi, I hope I didn't make her TOO hateful. (Laughs). Good luck to Haibara! God Bless her. Thank you all of my fellow readers and reviews. It was an honor to write for you.

Now I must move on for sequels, other stories, or perhaps even further genres. Please look forward for my other stories. Thank you.

CHARACTER THANKS 

Haibara Ai-Thank you Haibara! You were the pillar of support for my story, with your sarcasm and tactics. But I guess everybody knows that she didn't fight seriously with Ayumi. Maybe I'll explain more about what Vermouth and her did to each other in their own war in my sequel. She's my favourite character, if most of you haven't guessed it yet. Thanks Haibara, for the help.

Edogawa Conan-Humph. Looks like he had enough money to buy the dress for Haibara after all. Conning dog. But he got the ' Hitler' movie from her in the end, so I guess he's happy. Good luck with Haibara! I must try to give some struggles in their relationship in the sequel. I'm thinking of making them get in a fight, and who comes to the rescue? But that's not certain. Don't really think that might fit though. But whatever. What comes around goes around.

Ayumi Yoshida-Yes, the brilliance of a twelve-year old. I guess the picture of Conan in her room's being replaced by Mitsuhiko now, right? (Laughs) She was a problem, because I didn't really like Ayumi in the first place. But she's still a kid after all, like Haibara and Conan said.

Genta, Mitsuhiko and Sumiko-What can I say about these three? I merely used them as helpers of the brilliant mastermind, Ayumi. But they helped along well, and especially to Mitsuhiko, the worst spy in the word, but the only thing that helped Ayumi get over Conan.

Kaito Kid and the Professor-Did anyone guess he was there? Did anyone know I was secretly using him from the start? (Thank you, thank you.) I wanted him to be the professor, but I wanted the professor to have his own appearances too. I like the professor a lot. He was a slice of humor for many parts of the story, but the problem is that until now, I still don't know his name. (Sweatdrops)

Kogoro, Ran and Eri- There goes Ran. It may not seem it, but I like Kogoro a lot. I hated him to crap in the first book, but as the story went on, he's actually a very nice person, who loves and cares for his family a lot. And he's a good shot too. (Hahahaha) He's definitely in my top 10. Eri's cool too, and Ran kicks ass. This family is really cool. Too bad for the exclusion of Conan, or else this family could be the next Incredibles.

PLEASE READ MY NEWEST STORY, HAIBARA'S CONFESSION!


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